"I told you not to take left" [BoO spoilers]

OOC: Warning! Blood of Olympus spoilers!


BIC: The trip had been fun until the feather-shooting birds decided to come along and gatecrash.

Now the whole war-stress was over and the peace between Romans and Greeks was restored, it was frequent for demigods of the two camps to leave on field trips together, go out there, have fun, get to know one another. At first there had been a bit of reluctance here and there, a couple of arguments but budding fights were fortunately stopped. Now everyone was starting to get along though and Tiberia had made a couple of Greek pals with whom she often chatted or Skyped when they were apart. Contrarily to a lot of her demigod brethren, she didn't have a tendency to mess up technology, which she was quite grateful for. She didn't know what she'd do without YouTube or Netflix.
The small crew of Greeks and Romans had rented a bus to drive to Diamond Peak, Nevada, for a skiing/snowboarding week-end which had been one of the most fun wintersports experiences Tiberia had had. Normally she always went skiing in Colorado with her family but being only with friends was really great. Just hanging out, dashing down the slopes together, sitting down for some hot chocolate then getting back out for late evening snowball fights.... just perfect.
Darren had been there too but fortunately their conversations had reached a ceiling at "salt, please".
She had been in a room with two other girls, a daughter of Hecate and a legacy of Mars. They had had fun talks and binge watched series till 3 am, reason why she was rather tired today but still alert enough for a last morning of snowblading.
And now, sadly, it was over.
They had been putting their bags and suitcases back in the bus' luggage compartment when these crazy birds had come out of nowhere. With their black color and ear-rasping caws, they seemed like ravens but their feathers had the metallic shimmer of celestial bronze and looked razor-sharp... The commotion had been almost instantaneous. Feathers shooting around, wedging themselves in arms and backs and shoulders, mortals screaming, demigods crying out in pain, metallic scraping as several drew their weapons. Tiberia had taken her gladius out too, cutting down in zigzags at the feathers and birds coming at her. One feather wedged itself over her collarbone, another one go her at mid-thigh, a third one scraped her forearm open. She drew back into a parallel street, hoping to attract some birds over to her so they'd leave the others alone like she had been taught to in Camp Jupiter and partly succeeded, a bunch of them leaving the flock to chase after her. She had taken a bin lid as temporary shield to ward off the attacks, the sharp feathers either clanking off or wedging themselves into the plastic. Bleeding from her cuts and wounds, Tiberia managed to ward most off with precise swings of her golden gladius, severed bird bodies thudding on the ground around her and dissolving into vivid yellow flames. After several minutes, seeing their brethren diced up, the other birds cawed and flew back, Tiberia running after them to prevent them from harming any of her other...
...
... friends.
She had just come hurtling out of her street back onto the one their hotel was on, still heroically holding the plastic bin lid (now spiky with feathers). No bus to be seen. Stray snowflakes flew around, blown to the side by the cold winter wind. Cars drove by. A minivan honked. People were coming from the slopes, carrying skis and snowboards on their shoulders, talking and laughing in loud voices. And Tiberia stood there with a frown, grasping the fact they had left without her. For a Roman who's been taught since the youngest age that teamwork was the most important thing in the world, it was kinda hard to swallow.

Wait, hey, they hadn't exactly left only her behind.
Darren was there too. (It probably was the first time she had ever been kind of happy to see him.)

"Where did they go?" she called out at him, people giving her strange looks.

Skiing, Snow Boarding, Sledding, all of these were things you typically could do in Australia unless of course you were one Darren Cross. That’s right everybody’s favorite Australian had never done any of the previously mentioned activities before going on the Greek-Roman get together and make friends field trip. So, for the first couple of days he was found falling down, spinning out of control, and making a fool of himself on the bigger hills because no self-respecting son of the Goddess of Victory, Roman or Greek, would be found dead on the Bunny Hill. Eventually he got the hang of it thanks to him watching a pro do it as he was stomach sledding down one of the black diamonds. From that point on he was sliding along as if he had been doing it his entire life.

The talkative highly sporadic eighteen year old had also made a bunch of friends on the trip from both the Roman group and the other Greek kids there. Specifically with his two roommates, one Son of Thanatos who truly wasn’t that bad once you got over the odd smell of death and a Son of Mars who was also a Legacy of Mercury. The dude had some sick moves and both of them were a laugh a minute so the three got along perfectly and Darren didn’t even notice that Tiberia was on the trip with them until the last day at the resort. Which also happened to be the exact same day that the perfect week turned into a disaster trip. How one may ask, simple, Birds. It was like straight out of that old black and white film except the birds were metallic and evil and not at all real birds.

Darren had only brought his dagger along on the trip and thus had to resort to using that and ski poles as a way to defend himself. Sure, normal metal didn’t do anything to monsters but apparently that didn’t mean that plastic and other fake products made by mortals didn’t hurt them because he was whacking the ever living metal crap out of these birds. Or, he was until they started getting back up having not truly died from the smacks because they weren’t celestial bronze, imperial gold, or stygian iron. They just got madder and chased after the little guy with the ski poles and shot their wings at him, by the time Darren made it away he was on another street. Jumping over a street vendor he snatched the duct tape out of his hands and quickly taped his dagger to the end of the ski pole.

With his crudely made spear he was able to fend off and even take down some of the birds as he made his way back to the hotel triumphant. Grinning as he watched the rest of the flock of birds take flight and fly away like the metal cowards they were. Spinning around he gave a bow only to not receive any applause or hear any laughter come from his fellow Demi-Gods. Standing up straight he frowned looking at all the weird looks he was getting. Sure his shirt was all torn up and practically useless, and he had a couple of cuts here and there but shouldn’t that be nor-and that’s when it set in. When he saw Tiberia, looking as clueless as he was. “They’re gone aren’t they?” He asked as he walked over to where she was standing. They were left in Nevada and he at least had no idea how to get back to Camp Jupiter as he had slept half the bus ride here. "Back to Camp maybe?" Was his reply a sad smile on his face hopeful that she at least had an idea of where that was.

Money? Money was the thing people used to buy things with right? Kind of like Drachmas wasn’t it? Darren shoved his hands in his pocket, ski pole dagger infused spear thing flopping down onto the ground. Moving his hands around he pulled out ten drachmas in each hand and nothing else shrugging his shoulders. “Absolutely none unless you count Drachmas then I have twenty of those but that’s about it.” Bending down he un-ducttaped the knife from the spear and walked over to her “not like money really matters, I mean I survived for like sixteen years without ever having to need money and only when I came to camp did people finally decide that it mattered.” He explained grinning his infamous boyish smile. “Why don’t we just hoof it back to camp, it can’t be that hard right? I mean don’t you Romans have to find it on your own all magically anyway?”

He didn’t understand what the Romans had to do to get to camp anyway but he was hoping she knew where it was anyway. Sure they may have been in another state, whatever that meant, but it couldn’t have been that far from where they were now. They were still in America and being in the same country obviously meant that everything was at least relatively close together, didn’t it? “So, what’s the plan? I propose we go back to the hotel and see if they have land lines. Sure cell phones are bad, but normal phones can’t be too terrible right? Maybe we can call someone you know at New Rome and they can come pick us up.” That was the smart thing to do right? Darren wasn’t used to relying on other people to get him out of tight spots but this did seem like the logical thing. Which was odd, sense when did he do the logical thing? Hell he had just recently made a spear out of a ski pole and duct tape.

That was exactly why he suggested they use a phone from the hotel, like the desk phone or something not a cell phone. Or did they do the same thing? Darren shrugged and followed behind her to wherever it was they were heading. Hopefully it was Camp Jupiter, or New Rome, or whichever he was never really sure what he was supposed to call the really big place that the Romans stayed at and it confused him as to why they needed two names for the place anyway. Probably had to do with their egos or something or another. Most people thought Darren had a big ego, and he probably did respectively so though, but the Romans…well they made his ego look like it was an insignificant tiny little ant.

The Australian Sword Wielding Boy Wonder was dressed in jeans, no snow pants as they restricted his movements, tight fitting almost combat like boots, a shirt and a now ripped up sweater. He didn’t enjoy shirts but suffered through them this weekend because he didn’t enjoy being cold either. Spinning his dagger in his hand he followed Tiberia until he was walking next to her exactly in step with her. Because walking in step was something military type people did right? “So uh, you enjoy the weekend, you know until the angry birds decided to mistake us for the pigs that stole their eggs and everything?” He asked her generously curious, and because the fool couldn’t stand silence for longer than three seconds.

OOC: What she meant is that all the phone numbers she knows are on her phone, she doesn't know them by heart so she couldn't possibly get someone on the landline since she doesn't know any number. Also landlines work the same as cellphones I believe, it's the whole broadcasting your voice thingy. I may be mistaken though.

BIC: Tiberia was so deep in her thoughts that she gave a start when Darren randomly talked to her.

"What? Oh, yeah. Snowblading is really cool. Do you happen to have a flashlight?"

Flashlights were about the thing that could save your life here. After all, lake Tahoe wasn't exactly home to saloon cats and goldfish, tonight they would probably sleep somewhere in the wild so if they happened upon bears or mountain lions, they better see them coming and be prepared.
Snow caking her combat boots, she put her scarf over her mouth and nose to protect them from the freezing temperature and the biting cold snowflakes. Gosh was it freezing.
After a couple of minutes they reached the road which snaked around the lake, streams of cars driving in both directions. Behind them, the half-frozen lake softly sparkled in the setting sunlight, water catching reddish-orange highlights, the colored waves whispering against the boats.

Wait a second.

Boats.

Walking around lake Tahoe would take them about ten hours by foot. Whereas on a boat, gliding in a straight line without all the snaking roads, detours and progressive exhaustion from walking, it would take them less time. She just had to act quickly. Crossing the street in a sprint, weaving around the cars, she came to a stop on the docks. All the boats were covered by differently colored canvas sheets and had this vibration in the back of her thoughts, like the purring of a dozen cats. Her blue eyes quickly going from left to right she finally went for a small motor boat, praying to Neptune and Mercury that the owner wouldn't just so happen to walk by. Untying the canvas from the boat, she flipped it over with a broad gesture to reveal the small but kind of pricey boat. Nice white laquer, leather seats and look, it even had a name. The Ridge Runner. Not looking around because that would've denounced her as guilty, she scooped up the canvas, rolled it up and tossed it at the back of the vessel then jumped as naturally as she could into the boat and ordered it to start. Immediately, the tugging in her stomach drained her but the motor started with a promising rumbling; she knew they had enough in the tank to keep going for the evening. Her forehead started aching from the use of her power but she wouldn't let that distract her too much from her actions.

"What are you waiting for? Get in!" she told Darren over her shoulder.

Flashlight? What why would he have a flashlight? They had just spent an entire week at a hotel where none of them, stupidly he’ll admit, thought they would get attacked or have any need for survive in the wilderness type things. “Yea no flashlight sorry. I know how to make a fire though if that helps?” It probably didn’t because she probably could do that as well. Then again if they both knew how to make a fire it would allow for one of them to do that while the other did something else so it made things at least somewhat easier. They continued on in silence for a little bit longer which annoyed the hell out of Darren, his mind constantly zipping back and forth from one thing to another and hey look boats. “Boats are a good th-”

He never got to finish the sentence because it seemed like Tiberia had the same idea, or at least he could only hope she either had the same idea or spotted someone she knew as he followed her across the busy streets. Really, why couldn’t they have simply waited until after the cars had to come to a stop and cross the street like normal people? Right because they weren’t normal people that’s why. When they came up onto the docks he followed her to a specific boat raising an eyebrow as it simply started to life like magic or something when she got on it. ““What are you the boat whisperer or something?” He asked jokingly but held his hands up in surrender jumping onto the boat when she yelled at him for something or another. “So what’s the plan now?”

Delivery for Morgan!


Penguin of love out

"No, son, I'm the granddaughter of Neptune," Tiberia said as she took the stirring wheel in her hand, making the boat drive forward. "And the plan is to get back to Camp Jupiter as soon as possible (considering our current location, it will take us about two or three days)."

Avoiding the big ice chunks which could possibly damage the hull, Tiberia made it out into the lake. She could feel in her bones how huge it was, tons and tons of water just calmly drifting around under the stinging winter breeze...

Speaking of stinging winter breeze, Tiberia shot a glance at Darren. His shirt and sweater were tattered and torn by feathers and bird talons, the ripped garments shivering in the wind. Briefly letting the boat steer itself, she opened her backpack and got one of her hoodies out, an azure blue one, which she tossed over at Darren. "Put this on otherwise you're gonna freeze to death before midnight."

OOC: Thanks Trevor xD

“Camp Jupiter, ASAP got it. Good Plan.” The Son of Nike replied in his usual happy go lucky attitude. There wasn’t much that could bring him out of that attitude actually and he liked to keep it that way. For instance getting separated from an entire group while out in a state he had never been to before? No problem, he still had Aqualady with him and she knew what was going on. Even if she didn’t he was pretty sure he’d be alright, because really how much worse could two days alone in America be than an entire life time in Australia? In his mind there was no contest, the States were practically a piece of cake when it came to living off of as long as you were able to stay away from the cops.

Which by stealing a boat they probably wouldn’t be able to but there was also the possibility that no one else would be dumb enough to follow them out on a frozen lake. Speaking of which Darren was starting to get cold, looking down he realized that was probably because his shirts were torn to shreds and if he didn’t find something warm to we-Aqualady saves the day. Catching the hoodie he set it by his feet and took off his shredded shirt and sweatshirt. Picking the hoodie back up he placed it on his body and made sure the hood was up, covering his ears and the rest of his face. “Thanks Aqualady. I’m surprised you actually care about my well-being.” Here he placed a hand over his heart and made a sort of ‘gushy’ face. “How are you fairing though?” Now slightly more serious as he noticed her own scars. “I’m pretty good with self applied first aid if you need anything.”

Poke. As soon as the words left her mouth Darren’s hand left his side and his pointer finger poked the roman in the back of the head. Was it childish? Absolutely. Did he care? No, not at all and the reasoning was because he was Darren Cross. He was always up for lightening the mood, making everyone feel happy or awkward as long as it kept their thoughts off of the things that were actually going on around them. Like for instance the fact that it was freezing cold around them and there was perhaps no actual shelter they could find within walking distance or the fact that they had gotten separated from the rest of the group or the fact that Tiberia was carrying some serious scars right now.

So maybe he wasn’t exactly the best at keeping his own mind off of things, but it really didn’t matter because he couldn’t stick to the same subject longer than a couple of minutes at the most anyway. Except when he was a stowaway on that ship that took him from Australia to America of course. He was able to be quiet then the entire time and never once got caught by the crew when he was stealing food or doing other stuff or returning to his hiding spot. They were either the dumbest ship workers ever or Darren was the best ninja ever. He figured the reason he talked so much now, not that he didn’t talk a lot before because he did, was because of that boat ride. Point one. “So uh you need me to do anything?” Darren waited for an answer he swore he did, but his mind drifted off to watching the ice and whatever Aqualady said was long forgotten.

Until of course he woke up from the boat stopping. Opening one eye to see what was going on the now shirt wearing Australian saw his boat buddy getting off and climbing up onto some rocks. It seemed their sea fairing day was over and it was time to hit dry land once more. Standing up he rolled his neck, made sure he still had his dagger in its sheath as well as the drachmas, when he confirmed he did he took off at a reasonable sprint careful not to rock the boat. Upon reaching the end of the boat the young man jumped off and grabbed an outcrop on the rock, pulling himself up and onto the top of it next to Tiberia. “So oh great leader what’s next? Fire wood? Or do you think we’re close enough to civilization that we can find a box for the night?” Sleeping in a box wasn’t so bad, you just had to find the right one.

Following Tiberia around the forest in the dead of night was easier said than done. She moved pretty fast for not knowing where she was going, or so he believed, and there were all these different things to look at. Darren’s ADHD mind was practically going berserk and he couldn’t count how many times he had to snap back to reality at the last moment only to narrowly avoid a branch that Tiberia had thrown back or a cobweb she had ducked underneath. Which was another thing, sure Darren had some okay eyesight at night but it was as if it was the middle of the day to her, she was a machine or something she just had to be. Knowing exactly where to go, able to see perfectly in the dead of night, her Roman training was obviously over preparing her.

Darren had energy, hell the usually shirtless Australian had enough energy to share with the entire world twice over and then still have some left for himself. But after two hours of what he thought was just wandering around in the woods, getting shushed or smacked in the head by Tiberia every little time he tried to bring up some form of conversation to keep his mind occupied on something other than the goings on of the forest and well he was just about done. But he had to admit he was surprised when his lost in the forest companion plopped down next to a rock as if she didn’t have a care in the world, crossing her legs and pulling out a sandwich. Man, he definitely owed his little half-brother money now. Female purses and bags did work like Hermione’s purse in Harry Potter. He really thought that was just magic.

Of course when she asked if he wanted anything his first response was to shout out in joy that yes he did require substance. That he would gladly devour her sandwich, but no he didn’t. If he learned anything back home in Sydney it was that you got those who were injured or less likely to survive their food first. You looked after everyone else and then yourself first, took what you could get and made sure your family survived. Grinning his ever present boyish grin that was hidden behind the hood from the borrowed hoodie he shook his head before plopping down next to her. Once on the ground he laid down on his back, hands behind his head that was resting up against the rock. Looking up at her he spoke. “I’m good honest, eat your food Aqualady. You need as much strength as you can what with you being all robo GPS and all. I'll stea-I mean find something when we get to civilization.”

To say he was appalled when she called him a terrible liar would have been a lie. Darren knew he was a crappy liar but that didn’t mean that he didn’t think he was actually that bad. “I am a great liar, you obviously have never spent enough time with me to fully judge who and or what I am.” When she offered him the sandwich though it wasn’t as if he was going to just deny the thing and starve to death. Food was a valuable key to survival and all that, and it had been a good two years sense he had to forgo food for quite some time anyway, camp had made him soft. “Thanks though…” He muttered out in between the two bites it took him to finish off the sandwich.

Darren of course got lost in his own little world and just barely noticed her getting up to go collect firewood or something. “Yea sure, right, go it Darren stay.” He could do that, he was great at staying put and not running around or getting distracted by the slightest thing. Which is totally why by the time she got back from collecting all the firewood Darren had made a point to scout out the entire campsite from top to bottom within a twenty yard radius from where their stuff, or rather her stuff, was placed down on the ground. In fact he had just dropped down from a tree and was walking back to the spot when she returned with the firewood and started up the fire with a lighter. “Wow, you Romans sure are prepared for nearly every situation aren’t you?”

Sure, most people would actually be prepared for things to go wrong but Darren wasn’t most people. He tended to do whatever he pleased and went whichever way the wind took him. He allowed himself to slow down and enjoy life as it hit him instead of forcing on ahead and making life do what he wanted as he found it much more fun and enjoyable that way. Which is why to him what had happened to the two of them was just another twist on the rollercoaster of life. Speaking of which, and don’t even begin to wonder how the two things connected in his brain, “Sure, I can do first watch or guard, or post, or whatever it’s called.” He did too, he sat down in front of the fire on some big rock he had found, and held his dagger in one hand while the other was resting in front of the fire. Ever vigilant and watchful. Nothing was going to get by him, mainly because he was distracted by the smallest movement but still.

Darren wasn’t entirely sure what had happened in the amount of time it took between him sitting down on the rock and Tiberia waking up. Sure, he knew for a fact that he poked and prodded the fire to make sure it wasn’t going to go out. He looked at her sleeping a couple of times to make sure she didn’t disappear or something. There was also the random owl noises and him making noises back because he was totally bored. Oh and he was pretty sure at one point he saw some family hiking through the forest and waved at them as if nothing was wrong after they walked by not seeming to care they were there at all. Other than that he was sure nothing bad had happened.

So, when she woke up did her weird stretching thing and pulled out her gladius and told him to sleep he yawned while he talked. “I-I’m not tired.” Which was obviously a lie and the smug look on his face showed it too. Yawning once more he scratched the back of his head.“Okay so maybe I’m a little tired…but wake me up in like an hour or two so we can get a move on. The quicker we get out of here the better.” Forests were not a safe place for two Demi-Gods to be stuck in, and that was forgetting the fact that one of the Demi-Gods just so happened to be a descendant of one of the Big Three. Sliding down off his seat on the rock Darren leaned his head up against it and closed his eyes. “Night Tibby.” He was pretty sure the Lanny girl called her that.

Darren was a light sleeper, one had to be after the life he lived growing up. From the orphanage and the pranks kids pulled on those that were heavy sleepers to living out on the streets with a constant fear of either being attacked by rival gangs or rounded up by cops looking for some excuse to meet their weekly quota. So, as soon as the lion roared his eyes shot open and the first thing going through his mind was ‘what the hell?’ and 'where’s Tiberia?’ both questions that were of course quickly answered when he rolled over into a push-up position, effectively pushing himself up off the ground, and then from the front leaning rest position into a standing position sword and dagger already in his hands. Both of which he realized quite quickly that they would be ineffective against the foe Tiberia was battling with.

He reacted picking up a big rock in one hand and a thick stick in the other and dashed over to try and get to Tiberia but the lion was having none of that. It swatted at him with its paw before pouncing on Tiberia. Before even he with his super hyper active ADHD could react the battle was all over. The mortal beast was dead and Darren moved over to Tiberia’s side dropping the stick and stone after of course poking the cougar to make sure it was dead. Priority in making sure the deadly killing animal was dead came first, checking to make sure his survival partner was still alive and effectively keeping her alive was a close second though.  “Right, ambrosia. Yea you definitely deserve some after that nasty feat.” He grinned keeping the mood light as he reached her bag, calling over his shoulder. “Next time try not to go picking a fight with a beast our weapons can’t handle.”

Sure, he knew she didn’t plan on fighting a mountain lion as well as the fact that she wasn’t the one to go looking for the fight but he couldn’t resist making some sort of joke. Upon finding the ambrosia as well as some hydrogen peroxide and band aids that he had in his pockets. Don’t ask. He made his way over to her, the joking manner in his face gone as he handed her the ambrosia knowing it wouldn’t completely heal her he took the top off the bottle hydrogen peroxide. “This might sting a little bit, I always hated this stuff but you know it cleans the wounds out pretty good.” He said seriously as he held her shoulders with one hand to steady her as he poured the stuff into her wounds that hadn’t closed or healed from the ambrosia. Couldn’t let them get infected and what not.

To most people, especially teenagers such as they were, that one sentence would have incited a score of dirty jokes or things of that sort. However, Darren was not most kids and was completely oblivious to practically everything that revolved around well everything. So, it went unnoticed and instead he shrugged putting the top back on the hydrogen peroxide “Well like I said back when we had the really weird sparing match with singing, I kinda do all my own first aid. Gota always be prepared.” With that said and done he shoved the bottle back into his pocket made sure his dagger was still there on his leg sheath and smothered the fire with something or another, he was too distracted by the dead mountain lion body to remember, and put it out.

With that done he made sure that they hadn’t left anything around the camp, even though there wasn’t really much for them to leave lying around you’d never know. After wandering around the small camp site for about a minute he nodded his head not finding anything and followed Tiberia away from the area. “So, uh what’s next? Out of the forest and into the city or continue wandering around in a forest where there is probably more mountain lions around? I dunno about you but surviving in the city is pretty much my forte, or forti, you know what, screw fancy words. It’s what I’m good at. Although you Romans are apparently good at surviving in the forest what with your fancy wolf house and all that.” Sure, he talked a lot but it took his mind off things…and well he talked a lot.

Talk, talk, talk, talk, brag about the Romans, diss on the Greeks, brag some more, tell Darren he’s toast. Sometimes Darren wondered how someone could be so stuck in their ways they couldn’t realize that just because their Gods, who by the way were the same Gods, had different names and they lived different lifestyles didn’t mean they weren’t both humans. Or in this case Demi-Gods. “Right, city. Food and stuff sounds like a good idea.” He knew how to survive on his own, had done so for six or seven years back in Australia. Practically his entire life really if you counted the years at the ‘orphanage’ or that one place where a bunch of kids lived together with one adult supervisor who was lucky to remember the name of two kids.

After a while the two of them came across a road and from the road they were able to make it to this thing that Tiberia read from. Darren was not even going to attempt to read it because well he couldn’t. It wasn’t because of the Dyslexia, although he was sure that didn’t help, it was simply because he didn’t know how to read. Not that anyone would ever need to know that of course. “Hitchhiking? If you think two homeless teenagers who look like they just ran away from home can get someone to take them somewhere than sure let’s hitchhike. But I’m telling you now no one is going to give us a second thought as they drive on by.” It was true too, people these days didn’t give two fudges about other people and even less about dirty teenagers. “We’d be more likely to find an abandoned car that we could start up than to get a ride from someone.” Besides 180 Miles wasn’t that far of a distance…right?