Night Meeting (private for Dylan and myself)

In the recent nights, my dreams had gotten more and more vivid. I kept seeing Giants in various parts of the world, Pelorus, Eurymedon, Aristaeus, most of the time leading great groups of monsters across landscapes I didn't know, but the scenes were so intense I didn't always manage to fall back asleep. After thirty minutes of moving around in my bed trying to find a comfortable position, I decided I didn't have enough sides to lay on and slowly pushed my covers back. My muscles were sore and my body made little cracking sounds as I stretched. Around me, my brothers and sisters were asleep, breathing regularly at their own paces. I looked at Salem, Ari and Lou then slowly, carefully climbed down the rope ladder and set foot on the cold floor. It must be about 1 am. My cabin felt oppressive, stuffy, probably from all the incense and plants that filled the shelves. In a corner, a statue of my mother stared at me, holding two flickering torches.

I needed some fresh air.

Unlocking my trunk with a finger, I pulled out a random shirt and pair of trousers, laced my sneakers and went out into the cold night. The harpies would soon find me though, so I headed to the one part where they wouldn't follow: the forest. As I walked, I changed my appearance with the Mist so nobody would recognize me: I cast my hair into an illusion that would make them look long, coppery blonde and curly, and gave my eyes a soft indigo nuance. I felt my ears grow pointed in the illusion and quickly tugged at the air in front of me. Green Mist appeared and solidified into a mirror. I looked at it and a young nymph stared back at me in the reflection.
Smiling, I threw the mirror back into the air, where it disappeared in a puff of white smoke. The mistform had drained me a little, but not too much since I hadn't held it for too long.

I started walking as silently as I could through the forest. My pen was in my pocket and my shield wrapped around my wrist in the shape of a metal studded bracelet, but that was my only protection. No armor.

After ten minutes of following a path I didn't know, I ended up near a small stream where I knelt down softly and dipped my fingers into the ice cold water, splashing some at my face.

Ben strolled through the woods, cane in hand as he normally did through the night. He found that he got more rest during the day than at night and would often hide in the Hypnos cabin, playing like he was one of their siblings in order to skip his daily activities. Then with the night, his body would urge itself up and he would be more awake than if he had been busy all day before hand. He couldn't do it often, but when he managed it, much like tonight, he enjoyed the crisp air that was permitted through the camp during the early hours of the morning.

This night though he sensed something moving through the forest that wasn't among the norm that traveled around the camp, the few monsters that camp kept in the forest for training that were watched during the night. Among them their was something more, another demigod moved through the path. If for nothing else the other person smelled of death, much like himself, an underworld kid's distinct mark no matter whom the parent was. However the difference was that it was very faint so it wasn't associated with death itself but had dealings in it.

Ben followed the path till he found himself at a stream, a few paces down and opposite the person that he knew was here. He saw what appeared to be a nymph with long blonde hair, but that was merely a trick envisioned by someone with control of the mist. "A daughter of Hecate is it?" He asked in hush tone, loud enough for the girl to hear. His accent was distinct in it's pronunciation of the words he spoke and he moved closer into the light of the moon to see the girl that he had likely startled. Common reaction that he causes when he sneaks up on people.

OOC: How did he know it was a trick with the Mist? Even demigods are fooled by it, so how could he know?

BIC: Startled, I stood up and spun around. A guy of about my age was standing a couple meters away from me, holding a cane. I couldn't make out much of him because of the darkness around me, but I could see the way he was surrounded by shadows didn't look all too natural. A demigod, a monster? Probably a demigod. A monster wouldn't have waited to talk, he'd have killed me.

"Who are you?" I asked, ignoring his question. My hands and face were still dripping with water, but I quickly passed my arm across my forehead, eyes and cheeks to wipe it away. The wind made the illusion of my coppery blonde curls sweep to the right and I had to blow a streak away from my mouth.

OOC: Sea of Monsters, Annabeth was confused on why Percy couldn't tell that Tyson was a monster when she herself had been at camp long enough to see through the veil of the mist, Percy on the other hand barely had a year at camp and had no idea what the mist was. Benjamin has been at camp for 3 years, he's well accustomed to the mist and when it's as simple as you have made the conjuration it's easy to see through when experienced to stronger changes by the mist

BIC: Ben stepped more into the light of the moon as to appear visible before the girl. He felt the brush of wind sweep the area and tilted his head slightly watching the girl as to try to sense her out before answering her question. He walked down to the water, his limp obvious as he had to support himself with his cane. "The simple who's and why's of the demigod life. You almost think after three years that everyone would know me by now, at least know me by my father." He stated, dancing around the question almost annoyingly as he continued his leisurely stroll till he found himself standing in front of her on the opposite side of the stream

Ben glanced slightly above the girl thinking something had moved in the shadows but figured it was nothing as he turned to speak again, his British accent crisp and clear, "The name is Benjamin Anderson. My father is the lord of the Underworld, Hades." He paused leaving her open to comment as she saw fit, it bothered him not whether she took the time to return such courtesy.

"Oh sorry, I came here a month ago," I told him. There were these times when I thought I had finally got round to knowing everybody at Camp, then this complete stranger would fall from the sky saying he's been here for years. Always an awkward moment.

I rose one blonde eyebrow as he introduced himself. He seemed to take pride in his parentage --not surprising-- by the way he gave a title to his father. I bowed my head with a grin and said: "Theano Minalkis, known around here as Morgan Landry, daughter of Hecate, lady of crossroads, weasels, she-dogs, snakes, torches aaaand quite a lot of other things. Oh, and magic."

"A month ago? Well I guess the lack of knowing can be forgiven. I know my first month here consisted of hiding away to avoid most of these people." He told her calmly silencing himself once more to here her name and god parent, guessing it correctly he thought in the back of his head.

"Another child of the good witch goddess. I take it you're of a European birthplace? That name is definitely not American." He asked her, almost kinda sporadically like he couldn't stick to one thought at a time. Of course one thing could be the ADHD, another the past life of a rich boy(still is one), but in reality Benjamin just finds it more fun to keep people on their toes by never settling on one thing for two long. It's an easy way for him to tell how smart someone is due to whether or not they can keep up.

I kept from asking why he had been hiding. If he wanted to say, he would, if he didn't, he would not and I didn't want to be rude so I remained silent.

When he asked about my birthplace, I gave him a smile. "Actually, I was born in the Underworld," I replied. "Like most, if not all children of chthonic goddesses. But you're right, my name's Greek."

"Born and raised till the age of 13 in London, it's nice to meet other demigods that aren't American in birthplace, makes it feel more diverse on the mortal side of life." He said to her with a smirk, readjusting himself wishing he had a place to sit so that he didn't have to continue putting pressure on his leg.

"It's nice to meet you Morgan. As for why I was among the shadows, I find it rather interesting to see if people will react differently to someone appearing as if out of nowhere aside from the lovely scaredy cat reaction." Benjamin stated offering an explanation to the meeting.

"Oh, diversity," I smiled. "I'm French, German and Greek so I kinda know about that. Though I don't officially possess the Greek nationality or anything, I assume I got it through my father."

I felt a bit jealous. London was a beautiful city in my opinion, nicer than those I had lived in -- except perhaps Versailles or Berlin.  And judging from his clothes, I guessed he didn't live in the worst areas.

"Well, I guess you got the scaredy cat reaction from me," I grinned, my indigo eyes glinting in the dark. "My apologies."

"Don't apologize, everything is an experience, good or bad you should never apologize for experiences you have." Ben told her lightly smiling in the moonlight feeling like things were becoming too peacefully for the moment, though not complaining either. "After all, our experiences help define who we are." He told her some time after the silence became a little addicting.

I wasn't seriously apologizing, but I didn't want to drag the conversation towards that.

"You're a bit of a philosopher, aren't you?" I said, tilting my head and binding my blonde curls into a ponytail. The illusion could last about twenty minutes but now we were in the forest and I didn't need to protect myself from the harpies, my hair flickered to dark brown once every fifteen seconds.

"Philosopher no, Creative writer yes." He told her briefly trying to drum a way to continue the conversation. It was decent to have something calm and not be attacked by monsters constantly.

Creative writing, I liked that, being something of a writer myself. Not a good writer, mind you. I just enjoyed toying around with characters.

Looking down, I sat on a rock, wiping my face. "So tell me... what is a creative writer like you doing at this godless hour in the woods?" I asked, my voice sounding suddenly tired. I quickly gathered some ice cold water in my hands and washed it on my eyes.

"This ungodly hour as you put it, is the equivalent to a summer day for me. As an underworld child you must realize that the night is a lot more welcoming than daytime for someone like us. Though it's also much more dangerous, especially in a place like this. Never really know what lurks amoung the trees of this forest." Benjamin stated, glancing around again in hopes that he would catch whatever he thought he saw earlier. It's nerve racking when you feel like you're being watched

"True," I admitted. "Though I like to think of myself more as a creature of the day rather than the night."

I loved the night, don't get me wrong. Being able to see the stars and outer space was wonderful and I just couldn't get enough of it, it always reminded me how small I was but yet belonged to this immense thing called the Universe.

"Except if the night looked like this," I continued, and the trees around us came alive with light. Fluorescent sap started to glow in the leaves and moss, casting the torrent behind me in fluid light, flowers slowly blooming up with bioluminescent colors. It felt like being in the movie Avatar for some reason. After four seconds, I dismissed the illusion; I didn't want to drain myself more than needed.

But then I noticed him glancing around and frowned. "What's wrong?"

Benjamin noticed the trick she pulled with the trees, impressive as it was, he couldn't get the feeling out of his mind. He was half paying attention and half trying to sense out if something was padding along the ground. Trying in vain because unless the thing was made of precious material he'd never get a location on it without having a general idea of what it was.

"I..feel like we're being watched....and I don't like what's watching us if there is something..." He told her trying to figure out what the hell was going on around the two of them at that moment.

As he said that, I could feel my nerves grow crisp and sharp. My eyes darted around the perimeter and I gave up on my Mist disguise, revealing what I really looked like: a scrawny girl in her mid-teens with dark brown hair down to the shoulder blades, a small nose, brown eyes and some pimples on the forehead.
The next second, I had my kopis in my hand and my shield on my arm, both heavy but reassuring. My biceps rolled under my pale skin as I contracted them to keep my Stygian iron weapons up, the metal so cold it let out an eerie string of white smoke in the summer night sky.

My Quest may have made me trust myself and my abilities, but it had also made me very anxious. That feeling that I could get stabbed and pass away any second had never quite left me and right now, I looked restless. Very restless.

All senses alert, I took a step forward, listening to my gut feeling and trying to hear what else it said apart from Get back to bed at once!. Slowly, I exhaled into the night sky and my breath curled into a small ball of hot, crackling flames that I directed forwards with a stroke of my sword. I felt my level of energy sink a bit, but didn't think about it as the next second, I saw ..

."Get down!" I shouted, something leaping right over me.

Benjamin didn't hit the deck like Morgan had. Instead he vanished, disappearing all together and reappearing somewhere among the trees, though it's unknown of where he was to anyone but himself. From his position he could see what had leaped out at them. It was a Chimera, the dreaded fire-breathing, lion, snake, goat. It smelled of the three animals after having being roasted in a mean that you just couldn't stand but stay away from and he didn't want to become to friendly with the death dealer. "Last I heard that thing was dead..." He muttered and found an arrow imbedded in the tree the he was hiding beside. There was another thing here, something helping the chimera. He looked at where the arrow was pointing and heard hissing from three different places.

'Scythian Dracanae as well? Gods be damned..' He thought as he vanished again trying to get to Morgan before the Chimera made her into a late night snack.

"Last I heard, we killed that thing during our Quest," I growled. "Out for Zack again, aren't you, you useless wool rag?"

In fact, the Chimera had been the very first monster to attack us on our Quest, in the train that was supposed to lead us from New York to Miami; but that had been counting without Zack's smell. He was a son of Zeus, so logically, he attracted that kind of powerful monsters.
Benjamin was a son of Hades, perhaps it was naturally prone to attack children of the Big Three.... But whatever happened, I would kill this thing, and my determination right now was as strong as my fear. Three weeks ago, I would've curled up or shot random blasts of fire. But now, I had learned things on how to use my powers and my weapons, and I was ready to take this monster down.

"Benjamin, get the dracaenae!" I called over my shoulder. "The Chimera is mine."

I swung my sword over my head and it morphed into a long, blazing whip, the Pyriphlegethon flames licking the sharp Stygian iron scales. With a thwack, it curled around the lion's head and I pulled tightly, choking and burning through its flesh, my lips curling back over my teeth in the effort. But the Chimera wasn't determined to let itself be killed: roaring, it spat a stream of blinding fire at me that would've roasted me if I hadn't instinctively ducked and protected myself with my Spartan shield, feeling the flames hiss as they came in contact with the Stygian iron.
Rising up swiftly, I pulled the whip from around its neck and lashed out at its goat head, leaving a bleeding, burning gash down its neck. The smell of burnt wool came to my nose. That's for my arm, I thought with satisfaction and advanced quickly.
Suddenly, something sharp grazed my shoulder, leaving there a boiling sting. I cried out, holding the wound for a second, and looked over to see a blonde dracaena hiss at me with delight. I'm gonna get you later.
I ran at the Chimera, my whip having transformed into my cold black xiphos. It spew fire at me and once again, my reflexes saved me: water from the stream rushed around my body in a thick, liquid veil, extinguishing the flames before they could reach me. I felt a bit weary but could definitely still hold this battle up. I was gonna kill the Chimera. In our last encounter, it had dug its horn into the soft place in my elbow, burnt me and knocked me into the wall with such a force I had passed out from the impact, but now was a different thing. Now I would kick it back to Tartarus single-handedly.

Benjamin heard Morgan shout to take care of the three puppeteers. Completely fine with the son of Hades, he smirked and then turned and unsheathe the sword from his cane and smirked as the stygian iron blazed glistened in the moonlight and hissed in the heat of the summer day. "This will be interesting.." He said as he found an arrow trained on him. "Don't bore me so easily.." He said to the dracaenae, suddenly beside it, his sword outstretched against the woman's neck her eyes struck with shock.

Ben was quick and precise, the blade slitting the monster's throat like butter and the dust falling to the ground and the bow hit the dirt they stood upon, the essence of the creature lost in the darkness of the sword. Turning he blocked a quick jab that another of the three had sent his way, facing the opponent sword to sword. "You're so useless...all of you.." He said boredly as he parried the creature's swings, turning quickly and using his cane sheathe to block the other dracaena's blade.

The Chimera made a circular movement with its head and knocked me backwards, my sword arm smacking into a rock. I hissed out in pain, the bruise very painful. I hadn't cracked a bone though, that much was sure...
Or was it? Last time I had broken bones, I hadn't realized it, well, not at first. Perhaps the adrenaline was numbing most of the pain.
A couple of meters away, Benjamin was dancing with the dracaenae, eluding and blocking their blows quickly with his cane sword and its sheath. Handy trick. Right then, a hot breath met my face and I screwed my face up in disgust. Why hadn't anyone yet invented tooth paste for monsters? Seriously, this was rancid.
But I didn't have more time to reflect on that. The Chimera was standing right over me, snarling, and put its heavy paw on my ribcage, the claws digging into my skin through my shirt. Its throat glowed, and I knew it was about to engulf me in its fire, cooking me against the rocks.
Wait a second...

.... The rocks.

A low thrumming echoed around me as the stones floated up, my hands trembling to keep them up. I can do this, I thought, and before the Chimera could close its mouth, I hurled the rocks at it. A crunch echoed, indicating a bone had been broken. One rock came right into its lion throat, cutting the fire out, but I didn't doubt the goat head could spit flames too.
Gathering my strength, I jumped up and landed on the monster feet first, keeping it down against the earth; then I brought my shield down on its goat head with all my might, breaking its neck with the impact, then hit it at the same place once again for good measure. The goat went limp, but the lion didn't, giving a muffled roar.

"Shut up for once," I hissed and dug my xiphos to the guard into its neck, the Stygian iron absorbing the essence as the monster bled out on my jeans. The snake tail went limp and I leaned back, looking at the sky in relief.
I did it. I did it. Home run.

But the fight wasn't over. The Chimera had withered and dissolved away, but that wasn't the case for the two remaining snake ladies over there. I stood up, shield and xiphos in hand, and made a swinging motion at the nearest one. My blade turned into the whip and coiled around her scaly neck with a hiss; I gave a quick, strong pull, drawing her to me on the ground, then kicked her over and stabbed her in the neck, my whip having turned into a knife in a fluid motion.

Benjamin was purposefully taking his sweet time with the snake women. If he hadn't been they would've been dead already, but he had a good reason for it. He had to keep the women occupied while Morgan took care of the giant cat. Otherwise thing would've been a lot harder for everyone involved. Though he worried as well, he knew one of them had caught on to his awkward foot work as he fought them, he knew that she knew his left leg was weak, the limp from year's before still a problem in battle though not much. He saw Morgan take the chimera down and that distracted one of the snake women, Benjamin cracking the sheathe against the monsters head, disorienting her for them moment, but the other one managed a lucky slash at his weak leg.

Ben went down in pain just as Morgan killed the one that had got the shot on him and then other snake woman stood there closing in for a strike.

"All mine now, son of Hades..." she hissed.

"Please invest in some breath mints when you get out of Tartarus you ignorant twat." He told her as he caught her sword between his sheathe and blade. He winced as he stood but then the pain faded as he felt the darkness envelop him, nearly making him disappear. The ground around the snake woman shifting and churning until suddenly it crashed upwards like a wave, the earth impaling the woman to a nearby tree.

"Next time..you should consider an army..." Benjamin said to the snake woman, the look of shock enveloping her face as the black blade of his sword ripping through her neck and sending her head rolling on the ground. As Benjamin sheathed his sword, he fell down on the ground.

I stood up as Benjamin took the remaining snake lady down with very impressive geokinesis I was sure only Hades kids could perform. Darkness cloaked him, then, with a rumble that shook the ground under my feet, a wave of earth impaled the dracaena cleanly against a tree.
Two seconds later, Benjamin collapsed and I finally realized how much his leg bled.

Myself, I wasn't unharmed either: I had a superficial gash in my shoulder where one of the dracaenae had grazed me with an arrow, I had bleeding red burns on my neck and forearms from the Chimera's fire, four rather deep bleeding lines in my ribcage where it had clawed at me through my shirt, and the bruise where my arm had smacked into the rock was getting purple tints. But Benjamin really didn't look good.

"By the gods, are you alright?" I asked, rushing over to him. It was obvious he wasn't, but I mainly asked to see if he'd reply.
Passing an arm under both of his, I heaved him up a little but he was heavy. My shield collapsed into the leather bracelet, my weapon turning back into a four color ballpoint pen which I quickly stuffed into my pocket, and I lifted him further up with both my arms. I needed to get him to the infirmary, like, right now. I wasn't good at healing magic on the field, but I knew where the medical supplies were and how to use them. I spent much of my free time in there to help out, after all, at least one or two hours a day.

"Can you walk, just a little?" I asked. "I'm gonna get you to the infirmary, get that leg right again. Or do you happen to have any godly food on you?"

"The b!tch got me in my weak leg..." He muttered as he tried to use his cane in his free hand to steady himself while Morgan helped carry him to the infirmary. He hated when his left leg got hit because he felt next to useless if it was hit right. Sure his limp was a minor thing that a simple walking cane helped with but when he got hit there he might as well have been crippled because it took forever for the pain to subside enough to walk on it properly unless he was going off some adrenaline rush.

"I don't carry ambrosia or nectar around camp..they can't make the permanent damage go away.." He told her. When he said permanent damage his mind flashed back to the three years he refused to go to camp and the incident that cost him the ability to properly use his left leg. He got rid of the thought quickly trying to find something else to think of and wobbled along with Morgan to the infirmary

Passing one of his arms around my shoulders, my other arm around his back, I walked the first meters uneasily before stopping. I wasn't accustomed to carry the weight of another human/demigod and we were literally going nowhere. The Infirmary was at what, a kilometer, a kilometer and a half from where we were standing, and if we'd get attacked, I doubted we could defend ourselves. Sure, we both had our powers but we would be even more weakened afterwards.
That and, with the adrenaline receding, the pain of our wounds would only go crescendo; I was already screwing up my face because of the burns, cuts and the violet bruise on my arm.
Though there was another possibility, reason why I had stopped. Benjamin had probably shadow-traveled tons of times so he wouldn't be that much surprised/freaked out if I did. Therefore, after having dragged us next to a big oak tree under which the shadows were particularly compact, I called them in my mind and imagined standing in the infirmary.

Everything went cold and dark. Wind blew against my face with such force I wondered if I'd have blisters later on while weird noises and growls came to my ears, causing goosebumps to grow on my skin and my heartbeat to rise.

Then the shadows evaporated and we stood inside the marble walls of the infirmary.

It was night, so the curtains of the beds in which wounded demigods/satyrs/whoever slept were drawn to hide them -- about four, tonight -- which played to our advantage. I left Benjamin on a bed and staggered over to the medics cupboards, grabbing a basket set with cotton wool and putting in there about three flasks and bottles along with a roll of bandages.
My burns were starting to sting really nastily, but I kicked down the hissing sound that came to my lips. Benjamin came first. Others always came first. Sitting on a chair next to his bed, I carefully pulled the bottom of his trousers up around his knee to expose the wound, then lightly soaked a piece of cotton wool with nectar -- not too much in order not to burn him -- and started applying gentle pressure on the wound to get the bleeding under control. Since I used the godly drink, it lasted only a couple of minutes after which I put on a pair of medic gloves so whatever bacteria I had on my hands wouldn't come into contact with the wound. It was a rather deep slash, the blood only slightly oozing from between the wound's lips and I swore I could see a bit of the bone underneath. His leg, caked with dried blood, made the wound seem worse than really it was though I easily cleaned it away. Once that was done, I rinsed his injury with ambrosia before scrubbing it slowly with a piece of soft cotton. When I decided that was done, I sprinkled a dark green, coarse powder on the wound which would quicken the healing process and cause him to relax lightly before getting the bandages and wrapping them around his leg with precaution. It had always been a tricky business for me at first. Finally, I cut the bandage with a pair of scissors and secured it with two straps of medical tape.

"You should be fine in about six, seven minutes," I whispered, peeling the gloves off. "I only applied the bandages so all the medics would seep in better, because that was a nasty wound you got there."