Picking moss off boulders [OPEN]

CAN'T DENY IT, CAN'T PRETEND.

Elisabeth Jane Ravenwing gave her plump bottom lip a gentle bite as she acknowledged that she was not the only one who had knowledge of the creek. She was perched on a precarious branch, veiled by the thick foliage of the tree, her hazel eyes darting over the scenario spread out in front of her. Most people would think sitting -- well, more like hiding -- in a tree and watching people with intensity, like a hawk, would be creepy, but did Ravenwing give a crap? No, she did not. She ran her fingers down the rough surface of the branch and shifted a tad, not taking her eyes off the people. A girl with multicoloured hair, who she assumed was a daughter of Hecate, tossed a blue ball of aura at a boulder, causing it to explode and cover the boulder in glitter coloured a vibrant shade of blue. Most people would've been amazing at the display, but Ravenwing rolled her eyes, unimpressed. Show-off. She thought powers were unnecessary and gave demigods an excuse to flaunt or brag, and flaunting and bragging drove her up the wall. "Seriously, no one cares about your stupid new outfit or your really, really cool powers. Shut the f**k up," was what she felt like saying to the show-offs and braggarts. And, one time, she did say that. But, because the stupid camper had to act like a kindergartner and tattle, she ended up getting in trouble for cursing. Now, that was stupid. It wasn't like that camper hadn't heard the word before.

Suddenly, as Ravenwing shifted positions, a cracking noise sounded. S**t, s**t, s**t. This is bad. Ravenwing, you goddamn idiot! Now, they'll see you and think you're some creepy stalker or something! she chided herself for not picking a safer branch. That crack was too loud not to be heard by the people below. She managed to move to another, thicker branch as the former one broke off from the tree and thudded onto the ground, dry leaves crunching underneath it. Well, she couldn't pretend that didn't happen. The evidence was right there. She took a shaky breath, hoping none of the other branches would snap off as she climbed, and started to make her way down.

When she reached the ground, she turned around and plastered a fake smile across her ovate face, trying to appear confident. "Hi. My name is Ravenwing and I'm a daughter of Thanatos," she said, her slightly faded Italian accent turning "Thanatos" to "Danatos". She continued to give them a smile that appeared to perfectly real as she untangled a couple of stray twigs from her long, wavy hair. Hopefully, she didn't look like a fool doing that. But, hey, it was better looking like an idiot because you're removing stray twigs from your hair than looking like an idiot because you're walking around with stray twigs in your hair. At least, that was what Ravenwing's opinion on the matter. She didn't care what other people thought about it. It's not like they controlled her life... right?

The fact that Ravenwing's cheeks had started to ache from smiling for too long tore her away from her train of thoughts and she let her face relax into a neutral expression. She decided to drop the act of confidence and lowered her gaze, staring at her black flats like they were the most interesting things she had ever seen. She realised she was still clutching the twigs she'd managed to get out of her hair and let them fall to the ground. "Sooo... who are you?" she inquired, finally, twirling a lock of hair around a long, delicate finger. She should have asked that question when she had first introduced herself a few moments ago, but who cared how late it was? At least she had remembered to ask it. Okay, whatever, off-topic. She lifted her gaze again and let a faint smile play on her lips, but avoided making eye contact. She didn't like eye contact. The look in your eyes could tell whether you were lying or not and while Ravenwing would like to know when someone was lying, she did not want when people to know when she lied. She was a huge liar -- in fact, her name, her godly parent and her gender were practically the only truths she told. Well, her name was half of a truth; because she did not like revealing that her name was Elisabeth Jane Ravenwing in full, she only went by her last name as she thought Elisabeth and Jane were hideously boring compared to Ravenwing. Even though Ravenwing probably sounded pretentious or fake or something like that to other people, she didn't care. People could believe what they wanted. After all, they still called her Ravenwing because they had nothing else to call her by. Ravenwing realized she was drifting off into Thoughts Land again and mentally scolded herself.