Reading at the Lake

Maria was overwhelmed. She had arrived at camp only a few days ago, and was still in shock. It all seemed unreal: like a dream or something. She had already settled in at the Athena cabin, but she was different from her siblings. Almost all of them had blonde hair and grey eyes while Maria's hair was brown and filled with curls, her eyes hazel. She knew they probably were nice once you got to know them, but she didn't feel like putting in the effort to get to know her cabin until she could get to know the camp itself. For now though she would just sit at the lake and read her book. She knew she would have to be social eventually, but reading books and immersing herself in the story was so much easier. Disappointed in herself for being such a nerd, she settled in and started to read, her own troubles melting away as she read about the troubles of the main character in the book.

Lilitu had a hard time fitting in here. She had exceptionally lame powers, like multiplying food and happy vibes. HAPPY VIBES, like, really? The daughter of Euphrosyne had taken some time out to be by the lake, watching pegasi flying in the sky above her. She couldn't handle the beach, all the Aphrodite girls tanning and the Poseidon kids showing off, but in comparison the lake was isolated, calm and peaceful, perfect for the punk-dressed introvert. She had been doing laps around the lake, memorizing every rock and tree, waiting for something to happen. Well, something did happen. Lili was on her fourth lap around, when she heard hoof-steps, and a lot of them. She got out of the way, climbing a tree high-up, getting away from the potential danger. She looked down to see a herd of horses, eyes wide in fear, being chased by a bunch of Ares kids, laughing and shouting. She looked to the sky again, waiting until they had all gone, but a frenzied horse came and head-butted the tree at top speed, and too late Lilitu realised that the tree was basically dead and rotted, and quickly falling. She screamed, wind whipping her ebony-black hair back as the tree plummeted, holding on as best she could. Luckily, she was walking close to the edge of the lake, so the tree fell into the lake, leaving a very surprised, wet and angry demigod to remount the tree-trunk and climb her way back to shore.

Maria was at the best part of her book. In fact, she was so into her book she almost didn't notice the stampede of horses being chased by the Ares kids. Those stupid Ares kids. At least Maria knew she could agree with her cabin on one thing:Ares's kids were jerks and weren't worth anything to the world. She looked up just in time to see a girl run up a tree for cover. A runaway horse ran into the tree, knocking the tree into the lake and taking the demigod with it. As the girl got out of the lake, clearly not in the best of moods, Maria rushed over. "Are you ok? Do you need any help?"

She was still mentally cursing the Ares kids when a voice called out to her from the lake shore. She looked around, a bit surprised that someone would be calling out to her, but then again, she was in the middle of the lake.
"Uh, Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just upset and wet and cold." she complained, then continued grumbling under her breath as she made her way, hand-by-hand, back to shore. She finally got there, the Ares kids long gone, the horses too, and dripping wet. Brushing her hair out of her face, she looked up at the girl
"Do you h-h-happen to have any t-t-t-towels?" she asked, teeth chattering as a breeze blew through the area, causing Lilitu to clutch at her sides, trying to keep warm.

Maria thought the poor girl looked freezing. She said she was okay but just cold and upset. Who wouldn't be? The girl was asking if Maria had any towels. "You can use the one I was sitting on. I don't really need it. My name's Maria by the way. I'm new but even I can tell those Ares kids at jerks." She walked over to where she had been reading and handed the girl the towel.

"Th-th-thank you." she replied, moving over to collect the towel on the sand. She bent over, teeth chattering noisily as she wrapped it around herself, staring out into the open lake. If only she hadn't such flighty tendencies, she would have been safe, sound and not using a stranger's towel to keep warm after riding a falling tree into a lake. She finally realised that the girl had been speaking after, and recalled the words.
"Hi, I'm Lilitu Senka. I'm new too, but those Ares kids... Why would they even do that?" she said, sitting cross-legged in the sand, sun finally deciding to appear and warm Euphrosyne's child. Luckily she was wearing black clothing, so she would dry quicker, but it would still take the rest of the day for her hair to dry.

With the girl wrapped up in the towel, the sun came out and started warming her of. Maria sat in the sand and started plotting on how to get back at those Ares kids. She wishes she could tell her cabin mates because, knowing about the rivalry between Athena and Ares, they would probably devise some sort of awesome revenge plan, but she didn't really know any of them well enough. For now she would just plot on her own. The girl is telling her that her name is Lilitu, she's new, and asks about the Ares kids. "It's just in their blood. They're always looking to start a war. In other words, they are jerks who look for trouble."

(OOC: Is it cool if I join this or are we doing a private thing here?)

OOC: sure go ahead

Lilitu smiled as the sun came out, and she loosened the towel around her shoulders so the sun could touch her snow white skin. She watched in interest as Maria sat still, wondering what she was thinking about, a favourite hobby of hers. She watched as her facial expression changed slightly, and feigned looking at the lake when she snapped back to consciousness.
"Well, that sucks for the rest of us. I'm natrually inclined to give and be happy, but it's a little hard sometimes, you know? Like you have to be everything your godly parent and siblings are, and are classed by that. I hate it." she ranted, using her hands in sweeping motions rather angrily. She felt deeply about this matter, and hadn't yet shared it with anyone.

It was uncommon for Ryan to do any form of relaxation in any environment that lacked a roof or any AC units. He was the kind of guy who took the word "camping" to mean staying the night at a Marriott and "roughing it" to mean a room at the Red Roof Inn. Needless to say, Ryan wasn't much of the outdoor type. But the sun was shining and the heat was bearable, so Ryan told himself 'Why not?' and decided to spend some of his free time outside.

After leaving the Ares cabin and considered what his options were, the list got reduced to two choices: the lake or the beach. But really, there was not much of a debate; Ryan hated getting sand in his pants, the Long Island Sound was pretty boring to look at ('Maybe a yacht owned by some new-money Ferrari-driving turd might pass by' were his thoughts on the most interesting thing he believed would happen), and, being a native son of Michigan, it would un-Midwestern like of him to associate himself with any body of water that had banks well beyond the horizon. The lake it was then.

...

Some 15 minutes later, Ryan found a large rock along the banks of the lake and sat down by it, using the stone as a support for his back. He sat there, thinking over various things that had come to mind over the past week. 'What did Ares see in my mom?' 'Why did it take so long for me to get here?' 'Why did nobody tell me I was a demigod?' 'What did I do to deserve this?' But as he was sorting through the questions of his mind, Ryan heard the sound of a stampede of hooves down the shore a bit more. Turning to look, he noticed several horses being chased by a few of his brothers. Unsurprisingly, they were some of the ones who fell into the category of "a**hole". "Just turds being turds," Ryan told himself in a hushed tone, "best to not get involved", and he returned to leaning against the rock, looking out towards the water.

But merely seconds later, his attention was brought back down that way thanks to a loud "SPLASH". Scanning the scene, it became apparent that a branch belonging to a well-rotted tree had fell into the water, bringing a girl that was on it along for the ride. Ryan, being one that comes from the school of thought that chivalry isn't dead but is rather merely a lost practice, got up and decided to see what he could do to help. On his way down, he noticed that another girl had come to the victim's aid. But Ryan continued on down, and upon reaching them, asked the simple question of "Hey...um...do you two need any help or is this under control?"

Maria, deep in thought, barely noticed as someone walked towards Lilitu and her. They were saying something, and it took Maria a while to realize that they were asking if they needed any help. Looking around herself, it looked like things were pretty under control, she just realized that they should probably do something about the tree that fell in the water. She didn't know if it was normal to have large pieces of "lake driftwood" floating through the lake here but knew that it could be a hazard to swimmers in lakes outside of camp. "It seems like we are good here, but do you know if we are supposed to do something about that tree that fell into the lake? Should we tell someone or try to move it out? Some jerks from the Ares cabin chased a horse into it and knocked it over. By the way I'm Maria and this is Lilitu. My mom is Athena." Turning to Lilitu, Maria remembered that she never did catch who her godly parent was. "Did I ever get to know who your divine parent is?"

I walked to the lake and sat down on the ground. I pulled out a book and opened it. Before i started reading i thought to myself, Why am I here? Is this really the only safe place for me? I need to start making friends soon. I then started reading my favorite book series Maximum Ride by James Patterson.

The comment made by Maria about his siblings struck Ryan like he was wearing a t-shirt in the middle of December. Even after he heard she was an Athena kid, it still seemed a bit harsh. Sure, the Ares kids that were around were acting like d**ks and sure, there was (or so he heard) a bit of mutual resentment between the two cabins, and yes they did inadvertently cause the other girl, Lilitu apparently, to fall into the lake, but the word "jerk" did strike him pretty hard. At least he now knew what he wouldn't disclose just yet.

Brushing the word "jerk" aside, Ryan returned his focus on why he came over to the two girls. Maria said that they were ok, but didn't know what to do with the new piece of driftwood. Ryan, being new to the camp and only truly knowing a select few rules, wasn't 100% sure on CHB's driftwood policy as well. So, after glancing out at the floating piece of rotted tree, he replied "Well... We could get it out. I mean, we could also leave it, but taking it out is probably a safer bet."

Noticing the new guy's surprised reaction to Maria bad mouthing the Ares kids, Maria told herself to take a moment and remember that just because Athena and Ares were rivals doesn't mean everyone in the Ares cabin was a jerk. Only the majority. As the boy suggested they try to get the log out, Maria started heading to the lake, glad to have something to do. "Sounds like a plan. Do you want to help? If you want I could push while you and Lilitu pull. If it's ok with Lilitu too of course." Not waiting for a response, Maria swam out to the fallen tree.

"I came over to help, so why not?" replied Ryan in a slightly happy voice, although his mind was more like 'Ew...lake water. Why'd I get myself into this..' Checking his pockets, Ryan took his shirt (revealing a minor amount of muscle and a major farmer's tan), shoes, and socks off and entered the lake, heading over to the side of the driftwood opposite of Maria. Grabbing onto it, Ryan called out "We're moving on your signal! Ready?"

As Maria and the boy swam out to the lake, the water was colder than she expected, but she didn't want to look like a high maintenance snob, so she tried her best to hide her reaction. As they positioned themselves on the log, Maria got ready to start pushing. "If you ready we can try to move it now. By the way, did I ever catch your name?" As Maria began to push, she hoped the kid hadn't told her his name, and that she had just forgotten. She was always doing that.

"Well, if you're asking," replied Ryan, showing the smarta** side of himself, "I would assume you didn't. Name's Ryan. Pleasure to meet you." As he finished saying this, Ryan began to pull his end the driftwood. 'Not too hard, we're not trying to pull her under' Ryan told himself in his head. "So, what's your name? I feel like I caught it back ashore, but I'd just like to be sure."

As she pushed her side of the log, the boy told her his name was Ryan. There was an almost cockiness to his voice that reminded Maria of one of the only people she was friends with at her public school growing up. She told herself to stop thinking of her old friend. He was gone now that Maria was at camp, and she had to accept that she would never see him again. As Ryan asked her what her name was, Maria replied, "Well now who's asking?" Trying to be just as much of a smarta**. "My name is Maria. I'm new and my mom is Athena." There were almost at the shore. Moving the log was hard work even as it floated on the surface aimlessly. Maria fully intended on flopping down on the ground once the log was secure on the land. She didn't even care anymore if it made her look extremely weak.

As he continued to back up towards the shore, Ryan couldn't help but smile at the similar manner Maria took to introducing herself. "Maria, eh? Nice name. And I figured by your comment towards my brothers that your mom is Athena. Then again, anyone with half a brain can realize that they can be quite the group of rowdy a**holes." A few seconds later, Ryan's feet hit dry land, and he went up onto the shore still holding his end of the decayed log.

As they hit land, Maria collapsed onto the dirt. She didn't care who was staring or how ridiculous she looked. She just let the sun wash over her now soaking wet clothes as the lactic acid left her muscles. She decided to count to 60 to give herself a minute of rest before carrying on with her life and whatnot. Around 18 seconds though, she could hear Ryan saying something in the back of her consciousness. It took her a little while to put together the pieces to actually make words out of what he was saying, but at around 21 seconds, she sat up realizing who his godly parent was. At first Maria was filled with negativity as she thought of how rude the Ares kids could be, purposely creating mini wars and messing with people just for fun. No wonder her mom hates them. But then she remembered that Ryan hadn't been the one who chased those horses, he had been the one who cleaned up after his brothers' mess. Maria started to reason that he was on the chivalrous side of war. The glorious side her mom conquered, being the goddess of battle strategy. Either way, she couldn't bad mouth his parentage without seeming like a complete stereotypical jacka**. At around 25 seconds, she replied, "Thanks about the name. Ya my mom's Athena and ya your brothers can be rowdy a**holes. So far you seem like a decent guy though. You did help out and seem pretty nice. Then again, I've only known you for 15 minutes or so. I don't really know you." Realizing that she now only had 30 seconds left of resting time, Maria flopped right back down on the dirt, closing her eyes as the water from her clothes sunk into the earth around her.

(OOC: Lol at the pic Mariaaaaaaaa.)

As Maria finished her sentence, Ryan got his shirt back on and began to lean against a tree. "So, what's next? Are we just going to go our separate ways and return to our relatively boring new lives or is there anything else on the agenda?"

As her 60 seconds finished and she heard Ryan asking if they were going to go their separate ways, she thought about it for a moment, but then figured there wasn't anything else to do. Standing up, Maria replied, "Ya I guess. There isn't really anything else to do. I guess I'll just see you around then."


OOC: Haha ya I kind of have this weird unexplainable obsession with turtles. There isn't really anything to do at the lake, but maybe the two characters could meet up without planning it somewhere else later on.

"See you around Maria." Getting off the tree, Ryan picked up his shoes and began to head back to camp. At only a few yards from where he left, Ryan turned around and said one last thing: "It's Ryan Michaels, if you ever decide to come looking. You know where to find me." With that, Ryan pulled another 180 and continued to head towards the cluster of cabins.

(OOC: I would not be against our characters meeting again at some point in the future. As a matter of fact, I'm all for it. Until then, see ya!)

(OOC- Sorry guys! I've been busy and stuff so sorry about not replying!)

Lilitu, having fallen asleep after lying down in the towel, woke up to find the log removed and the towel still wrapped around her, two sets of footprints walking away. Lilitu severely scolded herself, promising to find Maria and return the towel someday.