Sitting by the Creek

Stealle despised most things, but coming to this creek to relax was not one of them. Despite the cold weather, she was wearing only jeans and a Camp Half Blood tee shirt. The sword that she called her own was strapped to her side. Her light hair was pulled back into a messy pony-tail, the light blue highlights barely noticeable. She could hear the leaves crunching under her feet as she walked over to he stream. The water was cold to the touch, but Stealle didn't really plan on touching it anytime soon. Sitting down by the water, she took out her sketchbook and started to draw. At first it looked like random lines, but it soon became the creek, and the rocks nearby. Her shoes started to appear in the drawing, and the rough sketch of the scene before her was now on paper. She began to add color, humming quietly to herself.

Lennie swatted at the bees around him. "Oh, bug off, you guys. Seriously, don't you have to collect pollen or something?" One of the fatter bees buzzed angrily and landed on his lightly freckled nose.
"Okay, okay," he said, ignoring the irritable, fuzzy insect and staring up at the bright canopy of leaves above him. "Sorry," he said, acknowledging the busy swarm at his side, "it just would be nice to have some friends I could, uh, actually talk to. You know, liiiiike a human being?"
Another angry buzz, and the nose-bee flew up and nestled in Lennie's tousled, brown hair. "Ha, ha. Okay, I get it. I should be thankful that I have billions of friends that would gladly sting anyone for me..."
Suddenly the swarm rose in the air, including the bee that was on Lennie's head. He sat up quickly, wondering what had upset his hot-tempered acquaintances at the spur of a moment.
His amber eyes widened.
Another camper had settled on the opposite side of the creek. The bees were heading straight for her.
"No...I...Guys, wait! Stop! I didn't mean...Don't just sting anyone!...Oh gods."
Lennie sprang to his feet and ran forward, jumping into the creek without a second thought. However, as soon as he started to wade through the water, he tripped on some slippery rocks and fell face-first. The bees stopped just before reaching the girl and turned around when they heard Lennie's yelp and a loud splash.

Stealle only looked up when she was splashed with water, dampening he drawing as well as her shoes. There was a boy in the water, with a boatload of bees around him. The bee thin seemed strange because it was winter, and this part of the woods was usually deserted when it came to normal insects. Seeing the boy struggling made her laugh, and she didn't try to suppress it. "Going for a swim?" she asked after the short amount of laughter. She had almost decided to try to be pleasant, until she looked back down at her picture. The colors had started running together and fading, and the rest of her sketches were probably not in much better shape. She clenched her jaw and tried not to look enraged, which was quite difficult. Stealle could have sworn she heard the boy talking to himself before, maybe there was someone else with him, or maybe he was just insane, which was preferred. She didn't even think that maybe he had a bunch of bee friends that he often talked to, because that would be improbable in a camp of magical children of gods... Right?

Shivering as he stood up and hopped out of the river, Lennie managed a smirk. "Oh, yes. The water's very nice today. Care to..." But he trailed off as he made eye contact with her. She wasn't smiling. The papers in her hands were drenched, and they must've been really beautiful before... Something registered in his mind. The water was his doing.
"Uh...oh! I'm, gods...I'm really sorry. Really. This is my fault..." He bit his lip hesitantly before continuing his ramble. "You see, my frien-- the bees, they're pretty temperamental. And if I didn't stop them...well..." He stopped his apologies and awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "I-I'll stop talking now..."
Although a cheery boy, Lennie had never ventured to make friends. He wouldn't admit it, but he was kind of shy in that matter. And inexperienced. Especially with speaking to someone so pretty.
He stood there as the wind picked up, his wet camp t-shirt clinging to his slim form. At his side was his dagger, Stinger, and unconsciously he began to fiddle with the hilt's pommel. He took a deep breath and tried again.
"Stealle....right? I suppose you'll be needing a new sketch book. I could buy you one, if you like. I'm really sorry."

Stealle glared at him for a second, but quickly softened her gaze when he started to apologize. "I would like my sketches to. But a sketch book would fine." Stealle muttered, kind of harshly. She was half hoping he would hear her. "Yes, I am Steallle, daughter of Chione. And you are...?" Her mind drew a blank. His face was familiar, but she couldn't place a name... probably because she didn't talk to people. She wasn't good at it, and would rather not communicate or form any sort of friendship with people, because they die all the time at this Camp. Stealle thought the boy was strange because, for one thing, he was in a creek in winter. And two, he was being followed by bees, which normal insects like to make themselves scarce in this part of the forest. Stealle noticed that the ground at her feet, only at her feet, was white with fresh snow. Looking above her head, she realized that her sudden change in emotion had caused a small snow storm to accumulate. She quickly thrust her hand into the air, only to bring it down again, forcing the snow to cease and the cloud to disappear. "This is called 'The deadly forest' for a reason, you know." Stealle said, gesturing toward the water.

Lennie continued standing in the creek, not knowing what she meant. Suddenly, it registered. His legs were already numb. Was he stupid? Did he want hypothermia or some ungodly illness? And what about what could possibly be under the surface? She was right: the deadly forest was called deadly for a reason...
"Right." He scrambled out and onto the shore, sitting next to Stealle, whom had a bit of snow at her feet. "The snow goddess, right?" he said.
Lennie wasn't surprised that she didn't know his name. Most people didn't. If he died off suddenly, the campers wouldn't have known his identity. He shivered from the thought, and partly from the strong cold. "I'm Lennie. My dad is Aristaeus..." The bees started settling nearby, but Lennie waved them off by giving them an unamused look. They rose in a cloud and flew away.

Stealle saw him shiver, and felt bad for a brief second, but then realized it was not her fault that he had fallen in the water in the middle of winter, but she took pity anyway. Rolling her eyes, Stealle reached into her bag and pulled out her sweatshirt, throwing it at his feet. "Its a boys size anyway." She said, sitting on the ground across from him. Having nothing else to do, she started drawing on a rock with her markers. Even she didn't know what she was drawing until a boys form materialized, and she realized she was drawing Lennie. She stared to bite her lip, a habit she had always had when she worked. "Here, I drew you, but it isn't a very good likeness..." She said, turning the rock. in truth, the drawing wasn't terrible, it was actually very good. Stealle had drawn better, though, so she felt there was room for improvement.

Lennie picked up the sweatshirt hesitantly and then shrugged into it. It was still slightly big on him, but he instantly felt warmer. Plus, the sweatshirt soft on the inside. "Thanks," he said softly with a smile. He played with a piece of dead grass, not really knowing what to talk about. But soon, he began to daydream about what to cook later. He often helped the dryads make dinner, but he often liked making recipes entirely on his own. Most of the camp didn't know that he came up with half of the food they ate. Lennie was okay with it though. He hated attention.

When Stealle spoke, Lennie snapped out of his daze and glanced at the rock she had turned toward him. His eyes widened in surprise. "You... you drew that?" It was like seeing an exact picture of himself on a rock. "It's amazing..."

Stealle watched him put the sweatshirt on. It was too big form him, and too bit for her as well. She liked it that way, it was comfier, although she didn't usually wear it. "No, the trees drew it." Stealle said it with sarcasm. It was in her personality to turn obvious questions into sarcastic comments.
When he complimented her, she showed a real smile. The first true smile she had shown in at least 2 weeks. It was truly a beautiful, white smile, and she didn't grace many people of seeing it, but thats mostly because she didn't like to be around people.
The smile triggered the water next to her to freeze in a thin layer, only to melt when the smile vanished. "Thank you." She said, turning the rock back around to face her. Sighing, she flipped through the pages of her now ruined sketch book. There were few that were still intact, and as she found them she ripped them out and stuffed them into her bag. She let out a low noise in her throat when she realized the drawing of camp she had completed when she first arrived was ruined. It was rough art, she was very young when it was completed, but it held a close place in her heart. She stuffed the book into her bag, trying not to be too depressed. "I've drawn better..." She said, looking toward her sketch book.

Lennie smirked a bit as she sarcastically answered him. He had a bit of a habit when asking obvious questions when he was surprised.
He was kind of stunned when she smiled. It's just that it was really, really bright and kind of distracting. But it was a nice smile. She should wear it more often, he decided. But soon it melted.
Lennie glanced over as she went through her sketchbook, feeling more and more guilty as she salvaged the few sketches that were still intact. She held onto one in particular. It looked like a sketch of the camp. Though it wasn't as good as the others and ruined, it looked important to her. She crammed it into her bag with the others with a look of sadness.
When she looked at her sketchbook again, the remorse was too much. "I'm so sorry..." he said truthfully, staring at it. "But... at least you're not covered in bee stings...heh." It was a desperate attempt to lighten the mood, but there it was.

Stealle gave half a laugh. "Yeah, I guess." Her tone took to be happier than it was a second ago. "Its fine, I guess. It's not like I don't have notebooks full of drawings." It was strange, hearing her talk in normal conversation, being as close to pleasant as she will ever be. Silence fell over them soon enough. She wasn't good at carrying on conversation. She started looking over his features. He had light freckles on his face, and seemed to be slightly taller than she was. His eyes were a pretty amber color.
Soon, she realized she was staring at his eyes, a hint of a smile showing on her face. Ah crap. She thought, pulling her gaze toward the water. Without realizing it, she had started to draw in the dirt with her finger. It looked like a strange pattern, abstract, which she had never, ever even tried to draw before. Interesting... She thought, using her foot to clear the drawing. Lets not think about it...

Lennie sort of spaced out. Why was Stealle looking at him like that...? He wasn't used to anyone looking at his eyes, or anyone looking at him at all for that matter. He hoped he wasn't blushing, and just stared back.
Wow. Her eyes were really blue. Really, REALLY blue. They had a sort of icyness to them, like they were freezing the depths of his soul. But somehow they possessed a certain quality of warmth that he couldn't quite place his finger on...
When she glanced away, Lennie looked forward in embarrassment. Whoops... Had he been staring? Then again: hadn't she been too...?
He smiled a bit as he shook his head to dismiss his thoughts. He found himself staring up at the leaves again. It was so neat how the trees remained the same within the borders of the camp, regardless of the season.
Lennie looked down as she stomped a way a drawing in the dirt. Aw. Did he miss an opportunity to see her artwork?
Suddenly he noted the silence, which was still only slightly awkward. "So," he said, attempting conversation in a more comfortable matter. "What else do you like to do? Besides drawing?"

"I'm usually at the arenas..." Stealle said, her cheeks red. She usually didn't blush, and didn't know why she should start now. "Stabbing dummies... Like, manikins, not stupid people. Although I would like to be sometimes." She said, playing with the hilt of her sword. She was starting to bite her lips again, and wasn't even working on anything. Maybe she was nervous, for whatever reason. She noticed he was staring back earlier, and couldn't decided if she liked that or not. "I don't do much. I like to come here and draw. I have carved a few things in the trees around here, but may never be able to find them again." She said in a low tone, trying not to look back over at him in fear that she would stare again. She wondered where those drawing actually were, and almost longed to go look for them, almost. She wouldn't leave this spot, right here. She almost had a friend, and although she didn't really ever wish to have one. But now that she almost did, she never wanted to leave this moment. "What do you do?"

"I like to cook," he said with a simple smile. "I enjoy making anything really, but since my dad is the cheese god, I tend to specialize in that area." Lennie was about to burst with joy as he talked about cooking. He was never asked about it, so it was no surprise that this all came flooding from his mouth. But he bit his lip to prevent himself from being too eager and sighed contently.
Stealle was avoiding his gaze, he realized. Was it something he said? She was blushing a bit and trying to distract herself...
"But sometimes," he said with a hint of mischief, "I pull a prank or two on some cabins. They never know it's me..." He hoped that woul dispel her sudden anxiety as he laughed a bit.

Stealle gave a mischievous smile when he mentioned pranks, here eyes lit up. "Let me guess, Aphrodite for sure. They are always fun to mess with. My cabin hasn't been pranked as much lately." She remembered when she first came to camp, she enjoyed pranking the Apollo and Aphrodite cabins. She had once put pink dye in all of the shampoo bottles in the Aphrodite cabin, they were walking around with funky hair for weeks, and she was never caught, because no one knew she existed back then. Her pranking days were over now, but she enjoyed hearing about it and occasionally pranked the Hermes kids for payback, but it was no longer a hobby anymore. "The don't know its you because no one knows who you are. Did you ever think of releasing those bees around the Demeter cabin? They would have a fit." The mischievous smile didn't leave her face the whole time she was talking. She let out a small laugh and scooted a little closer too him, as if they were sharing important secretes. Her face showed a childish sort of entertainment as she nodded for him to continue.

Lennie grinned and nodded, just as excited. "Why did I never think of that? That's brilliant!" He mentally added that to his to-do list. "It's actually a good thing the campers don't know me. Especially the Ares cabin. They get soooo mad. It's hilarious." With a small chuckle, he recalled a particular lark. "One time, second year, I hot glued the points of their practice swords to the bottom of their sheaths. It was bad." Lennie then nodded in agreement. "Ah, yes. The Aphrodite cabin is hilarious. Have you tried switching or replacing the tools in the Hephaestus cabin? Priceless..."

"That was you? I was in the Arena with the Ares kids at that time. Eventually they gave up and used their heads... literally." That childish look was still on her face. "And in the Dining hall, during breakfast, if you put food coloring in the drinks, their mouths will be stained for days." She smiles just thinking about it. Stealle was no longer conscious of the way she had acted before, just focusing on making friends and 'planning' pranks with this random boy she had just met. Suddenly, a new idea came to her mind, and she grabbed his wrist in excitement. "I had planned a prank when I was younger, but none of the other kids were brave enough to help me. You think you could do it?" She asked, knowing he probably wouldn't even need to know what it was before agreeing. He had the mischievous glint in his eyes that Stealle had worn at her first years. Even though he was her age, he had that childish mischief about him that just made her happy. "Not right now, but you know, some other time." She added with a smile.

"Challenge accepted," Lennie said with a wide grin. A jolt of freezing cold traveled up and down his arm when she grabbed his wrist, but he didn't care enough to react. They...they were forming a friendship! And Stealle was just so...so awesome!
"I'm so there. What are the plans?" He couldn't wait to find out what he had agreed to do. He had a feeling that his expression matched Stealle's. It was very possible, and he was glad to see her as happy as he felt.

Stealle gave an evil grin as she started to explain her plan. "I have always wanted to switch the Aphrodite clothes out with the Ares ones, just for the pleasure of seeing their faces when they open the drawers of the dresser. I was young when I thought of it, so its not quite perfected, and there is much room for improvement. Any other ideas are welcome." Excitement showing in her eyes, she realized she was still holding his wrist, and quickly let go. "But we would have to be careful, make sure they aren't in the cabin when we switch them out, one of us will have to get them away somehow. Aphrodite will be easy, I'm sure. Ares will take some work, but I'm sure we can make it happen." The word 'we' was used a lot. It wasn't usually when Stealle spoke. It felt kind of nice.

Lennie's eyes were squeezed shut as he burst into snickers. "Oh...oh my gods! That is so....perfect!" Once he could regain his breath, Lennie opened his eyes and smiled with thoughtful mischief. "Yes. The Aphrodite cabin is gullible enough... I think we'll have to find a way to make the Ares kids mad, first. They'll be rounding up outside of their cabin faster than you can say...Eureka!" he said, not finishing his thought and moving on to the next. His grin grew. "What if we had both cabins riled up about the other and move in on the scene as Ares and Aphrodite confront each other!"

"Yes!!" Stealle jumped with excitement. She was walking around no, trying to think of a wa to get them mad at eachother. "We...I could tell one of the girls that the Ares kids hated their hair or something, and when they go inquire about it, we could be in the crowd yelling insults as of we were part of their cabins." She standing and pacing now, her mind was working hard. She was thrilled to be in human presence, talking to a person with personality. Sitting back by the lake, Stealle got her sketchbook out and started to write their plan down, Sketching it lightly on the sides. "We won't have much time to do this, and one of us will have to make sure no one is killed, but I think it will be fine for the most part." Her eyes lit up brightly when she explained it, thinking of more devious things all the time. "What do you think?" she asked, showing him the paper, hoping he would love it or have more input on the matter.

Lennie's eyes lit up as he studied the paper in his hands. "Yes, yes...! It's amazing!" He paused for a moment to brainstorm. What would make the Ares cabin furious? What would scream Aphrodite, making Ares march to meet their new enemies?
"I got it," he said after a brief moment. "I think I have just one thing to add. What are the Aphrodite kids notorious for? Makeovers. Annnnnd what do the Ares kids take pride in? Armor... See where I'm going?"
He looked up at Stealle from his spot on the ground, smiling in total happiness. This prank would have to have some preparing to do, but it would totally be worth it.

Stealle was so excited that she took Lennies face in her hand and just plain kissed him, without even thinking about it first. For some reason it was a natural reaction. "I see exactly where you are going." She said, still unaware of what she had just done. Soon enough, it sank in, and she decided not to mention it... Maybe he didnt notice, yeah right. "How about pink with... " She just kept talking. This wasn't working. Had she really just kissed him? Did she really just do that? That wasn't like her at all. It sounded like the opposite of what she would do, but she got excited, and it was just a compulsive action. But, for some reason she couldnt stop smiling. She wanted to apologize, wanted to regret it, but couldn't bring herself to do that, so she just didn't mention it and tried to look inocent. But she was never innocent.

Lennie didn't realize it either at first. In fact, it took him longer than her for the thought to settle in. But when it finally registered, he simply bit his lip, only hoping his smile wasn't too goofy now. Lennie decided to play along as if nothing happened as well, but he was quite happy about the kiss.
"Pink with...glitter!" Lennie suggested happily, but he knew he was blushing a bit. "Glitter is so evil. It gets everywhere and is impossible to completely get rid of...Yeesh, this could get dangerous," he said, still grinning.

"Spakle and glitter and unicorms!!" Steal said, imitating the Aphrodite girls. She was quite good at that by now. Her lips tingled, she tried not to look like she wanted to kiss him again, but she did. "I could draw the Aphrodite symbol on the shields, you know, over the Ares symbol. And... I really want some cheese now.." She said that last part so casually it almost sounded like it was relevant to this conversation. "Oh, we are going to have to make sure we are very careful with the sparkles and glitter, we don't want to give them any hints." A smile was given too him, and then it disappeared. Her attention was on the creek again, the flowing water and the sound of rushing liquids. Her mind was on the kiss, and she couldn't tear it away.