Trip to the city

A cab pulled up to a corner next to Central Park. Inside sat two demigods. Eric sat behind the shotgun seat and was the first one out. He hated cabs, always smelled of cigarettes and plain old stink. He quickly made his way over to Myka's and the driver's side. He opened the door for Myka and began arguing the price with the cabbie.

Myka got out of the cab, shutting the door behind her. She watched with amusement as her boyfriend and the man who had driven them argued, rolling her eyes. After about half a minute, she reached into her back pocket, pulled out some money, and handed it to the grumpy driver, who drove away. She put her hand into her leather jacket's pocket, which she had grabbed before she left the camp. She had also grabbed some cash (which seemed to help), some of her knives which she had hidden in her jacket and monster- stomping boots (in case the pair ran into any trouble), and her IPod, which was in her other back pocket of her skinny jeans.

Myka shivered when a cold autumn breeze blowed past, and she smiled up at Eric. "You ready?" She asked with excitement, turning to face the park.

Eric threw one arm around Myka's shoulders, "Why did you pay him? I almost had him down to a reasonable price." He grinned and turned to face the park. There was not much he could see from where they stood besides a lot of trees. He shook down his hoodie sleeves and began walking into the park. "Why don't we just start here? This looks as good a place as any."

Myka smiled, and nodded her head. "Sure," she said, and walked with Eric. She moved closer to him, close enough that she was touching him, but not so close that they couldn't walk. They walked past a man holding a child in his arms, laughing. Her smile faded just a little, flashbacks of her past dancing behind her eyes. She licked her lips, and forced herself to make the smile she had on before to come back.

Eric eyes were varying between Myka and the trees. Myka, because she was his amazing girl friend, and the trees because he didn't trust. Now to most people that might sound a bit silly but to a demigod that is normal. The dryads and he never really got along and Eric usually tried to avoid them.

He broke his eyes from the tree line just to see Myka's smile fade a little. He slowly stopped, gave her a squeeze, and asked, "Is something wrong?"

Myka's head shot up, and she shook her head. "No, of course not." She said. "It's just..." She sighed, and closed her eyes for half a moment. "Gods, my past sucks." She never really complained about her life at 'home', so this was something new of her to say. She heard a shot of laughter coming from behind a tree on her left, and she turned her head, slightly alarmed. But when she realized it was nothing more then a nymph laughing at another nymph, she turned her head to Eric and gave him a half- smile.

Eric frowned and hugged Myka. "The past is the past. Just let it go." The laughing got his attention. He turned his head and saw some nymphs to one side. Eric quickly ignored them and turned back to Myka. "I've always thought that if I talk about it with someone it might help. Do you want to try that?"

Myka shook her head. "No, it's alright." She sighed, and pulled away from Eric, slipping her hand into his. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk about it- it's just, she couldn't. As weird as that sounded, it was the truth. She couldn't bring herself to talk about it- too painful, too emotional. And besides, Myka didn't want to put Eric through that, because, if there was one thing Myka knew about boys, it's that they didn't like to talk about feelings.

She smiled faintly up at him, gave his hand a squeeze, and began to walk again. "C'mon," she said. "I want to see what it feels like to be normal."

The frown stayed on Eric's face. If something made his girlfriend unhappy, he would do anything to change that. He ran his free hand through his shortly trimmed hair, wishing he knew what to say. The squeeze brought back his attention and he began following her, listening quietly.

He laughed at her second phrase, "I didn't think we could be normal." He leaned his head close to hers. "But I guess this is as close as we can get."


OOC: Sorry for not posting in a long time, my parental units and I are having some issues.

Myka smiled and shrugged. She bit her lip, thinking. She could hear birds from the trees chirping, and children laughing, and the soft crunch sound of the leaves being crushed beneath her and Eric's feet. A light, chilly breeze blew her curly hair in front of her face, and she mindlessly tucked it behind her ear.

"Do you ever wish that you weren't born a demigod?" She asked Eric, turning her head slightly to look up at him. Another gust of wind blew by, and Myka's hair that was tucked behind her ear flew in front of her face again.

As a soft breeze went through them, Eric put his arm back around Myka's shoulders and held her close. The weather up here was much different that it was in Florida but Eric liked it. The cold was a big shock but it was a new experience so he was fine coping with it.

"Sometimes," He replies calmly, brushing the stray strand of hair back behind Myka's ear. "Sometimes it would be nice not having to be wary all the time."

Myka nodded, wrapping her arm around Eric's waist. She wondered if she would be an entire different person if she wasn't a half-blood. Her entire past would be changed, starting with her mother dying. Myka shook the thought out of her head; it was not the time to think about her mum.

"Sometimes I think about what it would be like if I wasn't one," she said as they rounded a corner. She dropped her voice, due to the fact that they were passing a little playground. Although she doubted the kids or their parents could hear the couple's conversation because of all the screaming children, but the last thing she needed were people to question what the hell she was talking about. "But then again, I guess I wouldn't have much of a purpose if I were a regular mortal, while my purpose now is to kick monsters' asses." She laughed, and kicked a rock, which accidentally hit a little kid's shoes. The kid looked down at her shoes, and looked up at the daughter of Ares with disgust. The child stuck her tongue out at Myka, but Myka just rolled her eyes and did the same at the girl. The kid sighed heavily and ran off to the playscape, making Myka laugh.

"I've always imagined how I would be different if I wasn't a demigod. All I've really got is I wouldn't be as strong, you know, cause my dad." Eric couldn't help but smile, "Guess our godly side is a big part of us." Eric watched with curiosity Myka's interaction with the little kid. He joined Myka's laughing, "You are great with kids." He was smiling now, the laughter fading away. He directed them over to a park bench away from the playground, near the forest, out of sight of most people.

"How about we take a little break?"

Myka nodded in agreement, and sat down on the bench next to Eric. She thought about what Eric had said, and began to get curious about it. "So you're really strong?" She asked, pulling her feet up under her, and facing Eric. "How strong are you, exactly?" She wanted to know more about it- she'd never really talked with a child of Cratus besides Eric before. Then again, she had never really talked to anyone.

Eric leaned the side of his head against Myka's. "Well, I don't really have any powers that allow me to lift unbelievable weights, like a car." He scratched an itch on the back of his head. "Just in comparison to the other linebackers at my old school, they were bench, sorry, bench pressing around 280 pounds and I was benching close to 400. It was the same with most of the lifts."

Myka smiled, and kissed the side of Eric's head. After listening to her boyfriend, her eyes widened. "400 pounds? That's still a lot, and I bet it could still be classified as a power." She imagined herself trying to do that, and getting squished under the weight. She remembered watching an X-Men movie a few years ago in a gas station, and pondering at the scene where Raven catches a weight with ease. She had tried to do that with a heavy rock.... and still had the scar. She bit her lip, ignoring the slight pain.

"Eh, I wouldn't. It's not like I'm Percy with his water moving ability or some amazing thing like that. It's just strength." Eric turned and kissed her forehead. Myka bit her lip, a sign Eric had learned that meant something was bothering her.

"Hey," he said softly, cupping her face with his hands, "You okay?"

OOC: who's Christian? ;)


BIC: Myka looked up and nodded against his hands, releasing her lip. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said, smiling at him. "Just thinking." She hated the thought that she kept worrying Eric. Eric had better stuff to worry about- Myka not being on that list.

OOC: My bad, multiple character probs

BIC: Even though Myka had said she was fine, Eric didn't feel that she was telling him everything. Who knew caring about someone would be so worrying? He gave her a quick kiss and removed his hands from her face. He put one around her shoulders and rested the other on his thigh. Holding her close to him, Eric smiled, "Let's just sit here for a while." He gave her another quick kiss.

"Okay," Myka said, resting her head on Eric's shoulder. She could faintly feel and hear his heartbeat, a light ba- boom sound filling the ear that was on his shoulder. She had never felt that relaxed before, she realized with a sudden thought. She knew it probably wasn't going to last long, so she decided to make the most of it.

And then, against her will, she went into her 'famous' day dreaming state. She kept thinking about- well, everything, like she usually does. Camp, aunt and uncle, her mother, Ares, Eric, repeat. She typically chewed her bottom lip, like she always did she was thinking- it was a bad habit she was trying to crack, but was having trouble doing so. A gust of wind grabbed her and pulled her out of the state, and she blinked a few times, realizing what had happened. She laughed quietly at herself, wondering when she would stop diving into daydreams.

Despite the chilly wind, Eric was quite warm. With Myka close he always felt warm and today was no exception. She was leaning against him and seemed to be zoned out. Eric always wished he could just zone out at some points, but no. His inner football player told him to be always alert and ADHD din't help. Any little movement caught his eye. And it didn't fail him today, noticing a group of leather coated teenagers glancing over here and working the their way over.

"Oh, sh*t," Eric said under his breathe. Why did they have to try to pick on them now? He and Myka were just trying to have a nice date. The leather coats were getting closer now.

Myka heard Eric curse under his breath, so she picked her head up and looked at him, her face full of concern. "What's wrong?" She asked. She followed his gaze, and landed on a group of teens who were walking over. Her concern switched to confusion, and she studied the teens. "What do they want?" She asked, and turned her head to look at her boyfriend. "Do you know them?"

Unfortunately, Eric did recognize one of the teens. The boy in front with a blond mohawk, leathers jacket and Skillet undershirt, Hunter. He looked just like the last time Eric had seen him. Back in Florida. The group stopped about 5 feet away and spread out in a line.

Hunter smirked, "What you doing up here in New York, Eric? You on the run again?" Eric hadn't thought about Hunter since Hunter's family packed up and moved north. Back in Florida they weren't on the best of terms. Hunter was the leader of a school gang that Eric got into a fight with. Eric ended up breaking Hunter's nose and arm then got sent to juvi. When he got out, Hunter's family had already packed up and moved out.

"Hello, Hunter," Eric replied, his voice showing no emotion. Why should he? They hated each other. "I see you got yourself a new gang. Back to beating up 10 year olds again?"

Hunter snickered, "I bet you think you're real funny." His eyes looked over at Myka as if realizing she was here for the first time. "Who's this? A girlfriend?" Hunter smiled, revealing many chipped teeth. "Well, I tell you what girlie. You should lose this guy and come with a real man." Hunter stood up and grinned down out Eric. Eric bit his tongue and clenched his fists so tight his nails dug into his palms, drawing blood.

Myka raised an eyebrow at the guy- Hunter, Eric had called him- and rolled her eyes. She stood up, because if this was going to turn into a fight, she had to be ready to spring into action. At the thought of that, she wondered if this guy stood a chance in the event that this did turn into a fight. A son of Cratus and a daughter of Ares verses... A mortal? Well, a few mortals, but still. She noticed that Eric was wounding himself, so she put a hand over his fist to stop him.

She thought briefly about Hunter and what he had spoken. Well, first of all, Myka hate him instantly. The hatred in Eric's eyes told her that there was nothing good about the arrival of this kid. She stood confidentially, with her arms folded over her chest and her chin held high. "Well, aren't you original," she said with obvious sarcasm. She glared at the group and it's ring leader- sure, she wasn't the toughest demigod, but she was still a demigod; an offspring of Ares, at that. "And a 'real man' would at least ask a girl her name before calling her anything else."

Eric expected Myka to handle herself, so he quietly stood up next to her. Hunter's face still had that obnoxious I'm-better-than-you look, which Eric wanted to punch off his face. He felt the blood drip down his fingers and onto his shoes.

Hunter again grinned, "You've got an attitude, girl." Eric's hands clenched back into fists. "You can tell me your name later when we get away from this loser here." He gestured with his thumb towards Eric. Eric was so angry his fists would not stop shaking.

He locked eyes with Hunter, hatred burning in them, "Why don't you just go and get the hell out of here? Or do you want to repeat what happened last time?"

Hunter lost his grin. Eric could read the hatred on his face. His buddies started grouping together, a couple of them popping their knuckles. They were no where near the same built as Eric, but there was about eight of them, not the best odds.

"This time the odds are not in your favor," Hunter said then threw a punch at Eric's head. Eric easily ducked and went to rally back when a couple of Hunter's lackeys grabbed his arms. They painfully pulled them and pinned them behind his back. Hunter laughed then punched Eric across the cheek. His head whipped to the left and blood filled his mouth. Hunter shook his hand, laughing.

He turned to two more of his gang, "You two keep the girl here. I got some catching up to do." The two nodded and stood in front of Myka. Hunter turned back to Eric and started pummeling his defenseless face, chest and abdomen.