The New Arrival

Amaranthe Mason stood before a columned archway that was supposedly the entrance to the safe haven for demigods that the satyr who had accompanied her told her about. Camp Half Blood was engraved at the top of the archway.

Only a few days ago, a red-haired man in crutches visited their home and her mother had told her that her father was Apollo, the Greek god of music and healing and all that. Of course, it sounded ridiculous. She would've thought her mother to be insane but then the man resolved to taking off his pants, thus revealing his hairy and definitely not human legs.

Now, she was in Long Island, New York and she was quite amazed at how large the city was since she spent her life growing up in the Boston suburbs. The journey wasn't exactly a smooth one. The two encountered several obstacles along the way. Long story short, they ran into some monsters and made it out alive.

Mara gripped the strap of her satchel in one hand and the handle of her suitcase in the other tightly, making her knuckles white. She slowly walked into the camp, surprised at how many people there were. People who were demigods, just like her. She wondered how many half-siblings she had. She turned around to talk to the satyr but saw that he wasn't at her back anymore. She looked around, searching the vicinity for him but no luck.

Mara walked around aimlessly. She had no idea what to do or where to go. Sighing, she walked over to a vacant bench and sat on it. She sank in the chair, not really caring for her posture. Besides, she had other things to worry about.

Patrol duty had been a calm thing today; no monsters attacked, no giant snakes, no angry wind spirits, and seriously, why would they? We had a dragon and the Golden Fleece guarding our camp, even Cyclopes were not stupid enough to lurk around here.
The undergrowth creaked and cracked under my horse's hooves, squirrels chattered above and insects hummed around. I loved being in the small woods around camp, everything felt intense: the earthy air, the musk of animals, the sweet-sour wildflowers... Yes it also smelled a bit of decay with all the rotting leaves on the ground but it most of all smelled of fresh, lush vegetation, and I loved it.
Finally I exited the forest and let my horse, a black stallion with white fetlocks, pace down Half-Blood Hill towards the shimmering stream which flowed towards the lake. I may take a dip later on, probably with Alex and Salem. I was dressed in an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt, olive cargo pants and combat boots, not to mention my armor: cuirass, arm and leg greaves, and my helmet, the Stygian iron so cold it released strings of eerie white vapor into the hot summer air. My shield was on my arm, embossed with an uppercase Λ, and I was holding my spear in my other hand.

I was just passing a bench when I brought my horse to a halt. There sat a girl, very pretty, with blonde hair and an exhausted expression, holding a bag and a suitcase.

"Hey," I said in a concerned voice, and took off my helmet. My ponytail was a bit messy, as usual. "Are you okay?"

Shawne walked up seeing someone standing there. "Hey you don't have to be shy. We are all family here." He saw a little puddle of water he waved his hand it was gone right then. "I could show you around if you want? Hey who is your god parent have you been claimed?" Shawne was wearing blue jeans and a camp shirt with his trident in hand because he heard something at the gate so he was prepared. "I'm Shawne you can call me Dylan if you want. Or anything to do with the ocean. My dad is Triton."

"Whoa calm down a second, give her the time to breathe," I chuckled, stepping off my horse and holding the reins. I knew Shawne a bit, he was in the Minor Water gods cabin with James -- the two were half-brothers. I stabbed my spear into the ground and folded my arms, smiling at the girl. My armor felt like it weighed around 1000 lbs and made me look kind of bulky and ripped (even though I wasn't really), but I liked it -- armors weren't made to look pretty like in video games, they were made to protect you.

"I'm just doing it how they did me. Except I had a monster behind me and I passed out. She has it easy! I'm sorry want so water? He had a backpack on his back and he took a water bottle out. "I keep these in case a monster comes and I don't have a source of water. But you can have." He looked at the girl who just talked to him. She looked familiar but couldn't put a name to her.

Mara looked up to see two people approach her, a girl with a horse and a guy who seemed to have water powers or something of the sort. Her eyes slightly widened as the girl drove her spear into the ground but she just shrugged it off. She straightened her posture just a tad bit and opened her mouth to speak.

"I don't need any water, but thanks for the offer," she gave the guy a small smile. She was grateful for the water but she still had a bit left from her journey and she wasn't all that parched so she decided to decline. Who knows, someone else might need it.

"My godly parent is Apollo. I don't suppose either of you are his children too?" she sighed, feeling exhausted but quickly composed herself. "My name's Amaranthe, by the way. Amaranthe Mason, but it's quite long so you could call me Mara if you'd like."

Mara stood up, trying to be as respectful as can be. She hadn't been here long but she was glad she ran into nice people.

"Hey Mara. Yeah my dad isn't Apollo I have a friend who is though. His name is Dylan. I could introduce him to you if you want." He opened the water bottle and poured it out.

I shook my head. "My divine parent is Hecate," I told her. "My name's Morgan by the way, awesome to meet you," I added and extended my hand for a shake. Due to daily training and weekly climbing, my hands were a bit rougher and callused than they used to be.

"If you want, we can show you to your cabin. Have you met Chiron yet?"

Mara furrowed her eyebrows as Shawne emptied the contents of the bottle but once again, she shrugged it off.

"That would be great, thanks. I have no idea where the satyr who brought me here went and I'm kinda lost," she answered, letting out a small laugh.

She took Morgan's hand and shook it. "It's nice to meet you both. I haven't met this 'Chiron' person yet. Who is he, if I may ask? And I'd love to see my cabin," she said somewhat enthusiastically.

"You should meet Mr. D. Well you may not be ready for that yet." He pulled the Ayer up from the ground and threw it in a ball shape at her. He tried to make two but wasn't enough water. Maybe he would hit her.

"Right, Shawne, don't drown our new cousin," I said and gave Mara another smile. "Chiron is the director of activities here at Camp Half-Blood, and Mr D is the overall director. He's ... not very fond of heroes, I must say. But Chiron is awesome -- he's the Chiron from the myths. The centaur who trained Achilles, Heracles, all that lot. Come on, let's get you to your cabin first, then I'll take you to see them. Can I carry your bags?"

I changed my course to Morgan. Trying to "drown" her. "I can make a hurricane if I need to. But I can take her bags. I want to be a gentleman." He stuck his hand out for a hand shake with Mara.

I snapped my fingers and the water blocked at twenty centimeters from my face as if it had met a transparent glass wall. Giving Shawne a grin, I cocked an eyebrow. "Ain't the only one who can control water around here, pal," I told him with a glint of mischief in my eyes before raising both eyebrows. "A gentleman? So basically what you're saying is that women are so weak they can't carry bags on their own? Sorry man, I always thought chivalry was a lot of rude bullsh!t."

"Hold on I was being a nice guy to her because all the other guys at camp are to worried about killing monsters I just want to have fun!" He sighed. As he sighed he sat down. "No one understands it!"

OOC: ]

Spoiler:

Mara tried to dodge the ball of water and she almost did, but a bit of water hit her arm. She pursed her lips into a thin line and took out her handkerchief from her jean pocket, trying to dry her arm.

She softly laughed to herself, watching as the two bickered. "I'll just carry them myself, thanks," she interjected and adjusted the strap of her satchel.

She took Shawne's outstretched hand and shook it. "Mr. D seems kinda scary but Chiron sounds like a cool person."

"Well you may not get to meet Dylan... Lets say he and Mr. D got in an argument." He laughed quietly.

"About what?" she asked as they started walking to wherever Chiron was.

"Well he basically said ' That drunk wimp that watches us cause Zeus makes him look like a Pansy and even the demigods he watches make him look like a two year old?' so yeah."

"Which isn't a very smart move," I said, leading my horse along the path. "Don't insult Mr D, Mara, even if you want to. He's a god -- the god of wine and insanity. We're not allowed to say his name out loud, names have power."

I had taken my spear back from the ground and was walking with them, skirting a patch of trees towards the cabins' courtyard, my helmet in the crook of my elbow.

"What exactly did your satyr tell you about camp?" I asked Mara.

'Ahh, so Mr. D is the god Dionysus,' Mara thought to herself. "Why aren't we supposed to say his true name out loud?" she asked them.

Stried to recall what the satyr had told her. "Well, he told me that this place is like a
safe haven for demigods. That monsters barely entered the camp but he didn't tell me how so. He also told me about my d- Apollo and how he has a lot of demigod children and stuff like that. That's all I can remember really," Mara explained. Calling Apollo 'dad' felt weird and so she had to stop herself from saying it.

"As I said. Names have power. We rarely call Mr D by his real name."

We kept walking next to the tinkling stream; I caught sight of a nymph sitting on a stone dressed in shorts and tank top, and waved at her with a smile.

"Alrighty. Well when you entered camp you surely saw the dragon, right? That's Peleus, our oversize guard dog. He keeps an eye on the Golden Fleece, which protects our camp from the monsters. Only monsters who get in are those who're allowed to get in, like those in the woods. We keep them around for training you know? Always carry a weapon when you're around the forest."

I was a bit weary from carrying my cuirass so I made it turn back into my black jacket, my helmet disappearing from my arm. Then I tapped my large shield, which made it fold back into a leather bracelet around my wrist. Now all I had left were my heavy leg greaves strapped to my calves and my spear.

"We have a bunch of activities here," I told Mara. "Sword fighting, wrestling, javelin throwing and archery of course. Also climbing, kayaking, arts&crafts, running, etc. We're quite a lot demigods around here and each god has a cabin in which his demigod children live. Even those who're not supposed to have kids, like Hera or Artemis, have one, merely for the form. The Apollo cabin is number 7."

Mara listened intently to Morgan's explanation. Her ears perked up at the mention of swordfighting. Her school had a sword fighting unit in their PE class, which was the only time she enjoyed PE class. Archery also appealed to her but she never got the chance to learn it.

"Could you tell me more about the sword fighting and archery activities here?" she asked, her eyes sparkling.

OOC: Sorry for all the mistakes in my last post I was typing on mobile ;_; I edited everything now

BIC: "Well, when I say sword fighting... I don't mean fencing. We don't have white suits and needle swords here, we have these," I said, tapping my weapon which hung at my side. Right now, its shape was a Spartan xiphos. "And we fight dirty. At least I've been taught to fight dirty, there's no such thing as code of honor with monsters. You gotta decide if you want to fight pretty or if you want to survive." We slowly neared the cabins and I shouldered my spear. "Archery is cool too. We have an archery range where you can start with normal arrows first but when you're experienced enough you can try out explosive arrows, sonic arrows, all that jazz. You guys probably have tons of different arrow types in your cabin though. Here we go!" I added, pointing with the blade of my spear to the shape of the cabins in front of us.

Mara was a little disappointed that they didn't have fencing per se, but she was still interested in learning sword fighting. Slaying monsters? Hell yeah!

The cabins were huge and each had a unique design to it. Most cabins looked so fancy, it seemed more like a temple more than a cabin. She gaze in awe at them and turned to Morgan. "So, um, which one's the Apollo Cabin?" she asked.

"The bright golden one," I grinned, pointing her over to cabin 7. It looked like a normal house except it was completely golden: the walls, the window sills, the tiles, the pillars.... Only the front door was wooden, carved with a laurel tree under a sun. When light hit it, it started to glow so brightly I had to avert my eyes, staring at my feet.