Colten is here (private)

Colten wandered in the direction of where Camp Jupiter was supposed to be. He had just been released by Lupa, and was quite scared to enter this camp. What would it be like? Would he have to spend more time trying to make new 'friends'? He wasn't capable of that. Colten felt like there was always something wrong with him, something deep inside. He thought it was the anger, or the sarcasm, or even the laziness his sister always scarred him for, before he went to Lupa's. But it wasn't that, not just that, he was related to a god. A Roman god. He was half-god. Colten, after all that time at Lupa's, still couldn't believe it. He kept following the direction he was told to. He kept walking on.

He was somewhat sweaty, from being nervous. Colten hadn't been nervous a lot, but this was a brand new concept. A Roman god camp. He would meet others like him.

He wore a hoodie, with a tank top underneath, and shorts. He wore worn out tennis shoes, too. From other people's point of view, they probably saw a) a guy who wants stroke (it was 75 degrees F outside), b) was a thug, or c) is a drug addict walking along the streets to nowhere. Or maybe all three. Colten did not look his best right now, he was so tired and hungry and nervous and...

Calm down, he told himself. Everything will be alright.

He carried his backpack full of necessities. Some water, a toothbrush, etc. Every so often he'd stop to take a drink, until he saw what he was looking for.

Two people were guarding what was supposed to be the entrance to Camp Jupiter. Two girls, a caramel-skin one that he felt weird looking at for some reason, and one that looked like she would be a model mixed with a samurai, at least to him. He approached them.

From first glance, you might've seen a smaller version of Wade, or think he was Wade. They were both pretty, especially the smaller one....no, no, Colten, this isn't a sap love movie. This was

Camp Jupiter.

Leandra stood, sweating under her armor, once again counting cars as they passed by. By color, type, state license plate. It wasn't as bad as usual since Tibby was also on duty with her, and they were able to talk about anything. Well, maybe not anything, but most everything. Leandra had been talking for a while about how many particular cars seemed to be going for this strange color of burnt orange recently. "Honestly, I think the burnt orange actually looks fairly decent with most sedans, although I originally thought they should only go with sports cars. Y' know, the vibrant, powerful ones. Burnt orange pick-up trucks, however, look ridiculous."

Leandra stopped and was silent for a few minutes as a cream color car went by. That was the other color that seemed to be more popular, but it looked stupid. It looked like white cars that were covered in pollen. She was just about to start on that when she saw a guy coming up towards them. She turned her helmeted head to get a better view. "Hey, Tibby, when did Wade leave the camp? Or start wearing shorts with hoodies?" She asked, then noticed she wasn't getting a response, so she nudged Tib with her pilum. "Heads up, Wade's coming our way. Looking decidedly non-Wade-like."

One of them spoke to him, the Model-Samurai. Colten spoke up, his voice slightly cracking- not in the growth spurt  type of way, his voice was dry, scared. He could make one wrong move and kill him. He didn't doubt that either of them could kill, especially Model-Samurai. "Hi, I'm-" he stopped for a moment, wondering if it was okay to tell his name. "Colten," was all he said. "I was sent here by Lupa- is this, well, uhm...the place? Camp..." he lowered his voice, "Jupiter. The demigod place?" His breath probably didn't smell too fine, either. Colten just wanted a shower and to brush his teeth and to eat and get some sleep and some music and to kiss the smaller one. He raised an eyebrow, similiar to the way Wade would.

"Can I please go in? I'm starving and tired and I usually look so much better than this. Please, damn it," calm it, Joeunn. He gripped his hoodie rather strongly, but then released, trying to cover a few tears coming out of his eyes. "I don't know what's going on, what to say, what to do. Please let me inside."[/i]

Leandra actually felt really sorry for this miniature version of Wade. MiniWade. Colten. No, definitely MiniWade. She could see some of the older boy's mannerisms in this one too. There was also a part of Leandra that felt like if he couldn't hack it without monsters chasing him, he would never survive with monsters chasing him. Still, the part of Angerona that was passed onto her hated seeing the boy in distress. She smiled at him under her helmet, "Relax, Colten, we don't bite. I'm Leandra, this is Tiberia. We're not gonna hurt you, okay?" She said in a soothing tone, like she was talking to a scared animal.

She reached out a hand and took one of Mason's. The pull from her stomach wasn't as bad as the rush of fear and anxiety that she felt from him. The tired anxious feeling afterwards as she released his hand had Leandra checking all around and gripping her pilum harder. It was never easy, but she always lied to herself before hand that she was used to it, it wouldn't be so bad. She breathed through her nose, then straightened. "Well, we should probably get inside."

Colten blushed when 'Leandra' took his hands and told him it'd be alright. It reminded him of his sister, how she would tell him everything would be alright as a child. That time around, the words were loving. This time he didn't think they were, but he hoped they were. No, no, don't think like this. You just met her. What would [insert sister's name here] think of that? He felt his anxiety and fear go away.

He felt their hands released, and heard something about guarding and going inside. He suddenly felt more calm. That may have been a mistake.

"Let's go, please." He raised an eyebrow. Tiberia had looked at him, and said that if he annoyed her. His first thought was, shut up. His second thought was how could I annoy an angel? His third thought was I really have to get something to eat

Leandra was uneasy when Tib mentioned abandoning her post. She didn't want to abandon her post. Then she realized that Tib was just being difficult. Every new camper got an escort into camp, they had reliefs for that very reason. Leandra shot her optio and friend a rather annoyed look.

"Come on, W-Colten. This way to Camp Jupiter and New Rome. And you'll have to forgive Tibby, you have an uncanny resemblance to her ex-boyfriend, this jerk named Wade." She said quietly as she guided Colten through the industrial tunnel towards the camp. "She'll get over it." Leandra said, resisting the urge to shudder as she walked through the tunnel. Ugh, the after affects of her power sucked more than a black hole. Why did her powers have to suck?

She pulled off her helmet to make herself a little less claustrophobic and shook out her curly hair. "Where'd you come from?"

Colten followed her in the tunnel, hearing what she said about a kid named Wade who apparently resembled him, dated Tiberia. "I don't get this whole teenage thing, with relationships and complications. We're in our youth, let's have some fun before we're adults, and we can't do anything fun anymore. Once you hit thirty-ish, your life is work and kids and spouses and everything. Make your youth count is what I say."

She then asked where he came from. He fought back to urge to say my mom. "Uh, well, I was adopted at a young age, and me and my current family lived in California- so, yeah, around here, defiantly. I don't really know about my birth mother, or father, really, we just never had that conversation. We as in my family." He gripped his backpack. "You know, Leandra, I like you. You're not like the snubs I went to school with." He smiled at her, blushing slightly, but looked away.

Leandra was about to tell MiniWade the cold hard truth about Camp Jupiter and enjoying youth, then he said he liked her. Well, she was certain he meant the platonic like. After all, he just said he didn't understand relationships. And the adopted this was interesting.

"I'm not that nice, really. And here at Camp Jupiter, kiss your childhood good-bye. Hate to break it to you, but we believe in discipline and hard work."

"My childhood goodbye? That happened when I went to Lupa's, found out I was related to a god. Oh, that's nice. I believe in being lazy and letting things flow. Look like we're going to have a problem." Colten put on a stern look. This was the reason he had barely any friends, if any; he was sarcastic and got angry easily. They would probably tell him to 'channel his anger' the other god-related people, which was the stupidest thing ever. Did he look like Avatar?

"Yeah, we very well might. Or at least whatever cohort you end up in. And at least you're, what? My age? Maybe 15?" Leandra held out her arm to show the tattoo with six lines. "I've been here since I was eight. My life has been the Legion for most of my youth. I'm looking forward to becoming an adult. Four years, then I can retire, go to school, get a job that doesn't involve the chance of getting injured or killed on a regular basis. Ten years for you, Colten, and by then, you'll look forward to adulthood."