Sunsets and catch-ups (private)

Sunsets in Camp Half-Blood were always magnificent. The colours were richer, brighter. They turned the landscape into a glowing canvas of orange and gold, while the red sun sank towards the ocean.
Sitting on a bench in the Mess Hall, Maddy couldn't help but feel wonder at the view. Gods, how she had missed this place. She hadn't been here in... three years? Four? Not that she hadn't wanted to come back, quite the contrary. But her schedule had been so full with shooting and interviews and social outings and parties, she'd barely had a minute to herself. It was so nice to be back somewhere this... calm. Nobody expected anything of her. No creepy movie director. No shouting agent. It was paradise.

Maddy gave a start and turned around. Behind her, nonchalantly leaning against a column, stood Jeremy Summers. He must've been walking particularly quietly for Maddy not to hear him. "Hey there, Summers," she smiled. "How have you been?" She hadn't been able to properly talk to him at the impromptu reunion thing. Of course, she had overheard stuff - that he was an instructor now, that he was helping young demigods master their powers. But five years was a long time, and they had lots of catching up to do. His stories would probably be happier than hers. She was eager to hear them, though, and to reminisce about times when their main concern was winning Capture-the-Flag.
Scooting to the side, she made space for him on the bench before snapping her fingers. Two cans of Coke materialized from thin air and she tossed one to Jeremy.

OOC: she's wearing a canari yellow shirt with baggy, tropical-themed pants and dark green sneakers.

Maddy smiled at the nickname. "I think I agree with you on civilian life. Tried it. 0/10 would not recommend."

She stretched in the golden light of the setting sun and sipped her Coke. "It wasn't all roses and red carpets on my side either. Why don't we enjoy this gorgeous view and, I don't know, overshare our traumas?" she suggested with a smirk.

Maddy chuckled, "I remember that time I pranked you with cocktails. What was it again? Margaritas?" She laughed and took a long mouthful of Coke. "Good times."

She stayed quiet a moment, taking in the view. A budding feeling of calm and tranquillity went through her - for the first time in a while, she felt well and truly at home. Covid had given her the perfect excuse to retreat from LA, put all her contracts on hold, and simply... disappear. She'd even deactivated her phone numbers and put her social media accounts to private.

"So, how are we going to do this," she finally asked. "Are we gonna do a back-and-forth or something more like Never have I ever?"

"We are still campers," Maddy pointed out with a grin. "Growing up doesn't change that."

She paused again, wondering where to start. So much had happened... How would she even talk about it, let alone pull it into a coherent whole? Just start at the beginning, she told herself.
The daughter of Dionysus raised her can of Coke towards the sunset. "Never have I ever," she said, chuckling at Jeremy's face, "... lost 40 pounds for a role and fallen into bulimia."
She drank.
It was true - one of the first roles she had gotten. She had to play someone's love interest in an action movie, and while the casting directors had been impressed by her audition, they immediately told her she had to slim down. Now, Maddy had never been fat. She had been at a healthy weight all her life, if anything, her time at Camp Half-Blood had toned her up. But this had been her first big role. With some big name co-stars and a big name director. This was her way in, her stairway to the top, her golden opportunity. She'd wanted it so badly.
On the way out, one of the assistants gave her the contact details of a nutritionist and a personal trainer. The first month, she'd lost 20 pounds. The next, 25. She was so anxious at the idea of not being sufficiently 'in shape' for the movie that she started throwing up what she ate. She even started using her own powers against herself - summoning head-splitting, stomach-heaving hangovers to force herself to spit out the few calories allowed by her nutritionist.

And it had paid off. The first day on set, Maddy was impossibly excited. She'd made it. She was here. She had done what they asked. She remembered grinning at the director and casting agents, proud to show off her hard work.

...A nod. That was all she got. A nod in passing. Not a word. Not one iota of recognition. No wow, well done! or Thanks for putting yourself through hell! If she could go back in time, she would spit in their faces.
But she hadn't. Instead, she'd just swallowed it and gotten on with the movie. It was a huge hit, raked in millions at the box office. Photographers and magazine editors started calling, asking to book shoots, interviews, fashion columns. From one day to the next, her life had completely changed. Seeing herself on screen starring in a kick-ass movie was everything she'd ever wanted. It filled her with indescribable pride. But she hadn't fully realized at the time that this pride was double-edged: she couldn't be proud of her performance without being proud of the bulimic behaviours that had secured the role. Which were constantly reinforced from everyone around her through comments on her body. It was all people complimented her on anyway - her body, her looks, her thin figure. She found herself on magazine covers in outfits that showed off her ribs and collarbones. Watched herself strutting through ads in heels barely any bigger than her shins. Even her make-up was meant to exaggerate her protruding cheekbones.
Now that she was starting to make a name for herself, she couldn't afford to go back to her normal eating habits. Returning to her previous weight meant less contracts, which meant watching her dream die in front of her eyes. The mere idea terrified her. So she had gone back to counting calories, working out aggressively and throwing up after every meal. The more people praised her on her looks, the more she felt compelled to carry on. The source of her pride became contingent on hurting herself.

That first movie had made sure that her self-esteem and career depended on self-harm. And she was still paying the price of that lesson.

OOC: Well that was a horrifying read

BIC: Maddy opened wide eyes. A sea storm caused by a depressive episode?? That was unheard of. She stayed silent for long moments, but put a hand on his arm and squeezed. It wasn't like she had nothing to say right now - but everything that came to mind felt flat. What did you say to such a thing anyway? Depression was abysmal on its own, but if you added demigod side-effects, it took on catastrophic dimensions she just didn't have the words for. She couldn't begin to imagine what Jeremy had been going through. No wonder he was asking for something stronger than Coke.

"I've got you fam." Maddy focused and circled her hands around each other. In a matter of seconds, two drinks shimmered into existence between her fingers: a pina colada for herself and a whiskey on the rocks for Jeremy.

"Spicy, smokey, and aged entirely on the ocean. Just the way you like it," Maddy said, handing him the glass. She had a look in her eye like, See? I remembered. After all, Jeremy and her had shared many drinks together. It was actually one of the things Maddy used to do back when they were together as teenagers, to enhance their dates. Since she could create any alcoholic beverage in the world, it had become a game of sorts between them - see what she could come up with, sneak away to Zephyros' Creek, get tipsy together. Of course, sometimes she would get in trouble because her father, Mr D, could sense when alcohol was within Camp grounds. But since she was his daughter, she usually got away with an evening of dishwashing chores. She caught herself looking back fondly on these moments. Those were the good days.

Once she had taken a long mouthful from her drink, she leaned back against the table. "Well, this is a convenient transition," she said. "Never have I ever fallen into alcoholism." She drank again.

Now you're probably thinking, how does a child of Dionysus become an alcoholic? Well, as it turns out, very easily. Step 1: Experience some form of trauma, something that just won't go away. For example, I don't know, an eating disorder, or experiencing the ugly underbelly of the entertainment industry first-hand. Step 2: try to numb yourself. Step 3: Grab a bottle.
Without really realizing, Maddy found herself telling Jeremy about the parties she used to go to - the kind of parties you had to make in order to network, meet producers, managers, agents etc. But they weren't exactly professional. No, drugs were rife and the amount of harassment girls and women were subjected would be enough to sue anyone for life. Of course, all of it went unpunished. It was at these parties that Maddy discovered a new ability of hers: to feel the highs and lows of entertainment life ... through other people. Her father being the god of theatre, revelries and cinema, his powers extended over the branch of the entertainment industry she was in. Corruption, exploitation of all kinds, trafficking, ... all those things others experienced, she felt it too. It was like being connected to all of it at the same time, like being in the middle of a nexus. She got vivid nightmares where she was in someone else's body, experiencing their pain, experiencing the trauma of it all first-hand. There were nights where she just couldn't fall asleep because of it. But she kept going to parties. She kept drinking and drinking, losing herself in fleeting moments of euphoria. As Jeremy knew, Maddy had always been a party person. Being the daughter of Dionysus meant that whichever gathering she went to, whether a high school bash or a black-tie ball, she was going to bring life to it. It was almost symbiotic: the more she poured her energy into her powers, the better the party got. The better the party got, the more energized she was in return. She spent days and nights party-hopping, ending up in neighbourhoods she didn't recognize with people she didn't remember meeting.

OOC: Sorry for the disappearance, I had a lot of things to do that came up very suddenly! I should be back to posting regularly now.