Sup, bro

"What? No, they're two different kinds of paddles, the ones I'm talking about are used for- You know what, just forget I even mentioned the damn things." Ryan sighed, and then realized something. "You said you stole a car, right? At least I'm not the only one here who's done something like that."

Evander visibly cringed when Ryan said that last bit. "Not exactly proud of that, man. Had to do it. Unfortunately, that means I've got an active warrant for Grand Theft Auto out on me in Missouri. Can't ever go back to the mortal world like normal and pretend nothing ever happened."

Ryan nodded in agreement, you can't change your past actions. "True. But have you ever tried seeing if you could have that GTA be 'removed'? Or possibly getting the right materials needed for you to not be Evander Ajax whenever you leave the camp's borders, but be...say, Trevor Jacobs, if you're following me here. Then again, you do seem too much of a 'straight an narrow' type to even attempt something like that."

Evander had been paying more attention to a nymph fluttering by when Ryan spoke. It was a side effect of having a short attention span, but he keyed into comment about being too straight and narrow. It was a tone that Evander didn't like. Too straight and narrow.

Before Evander really thought about it, he had already grabbed his brother by the collar, pulling him close with a menacing growl. "Do you have a problem with straight and narrow? With me actually caring about the rules? Law? Honor?"

Well that was unexpected. As far as Ryan was concerned, the Underworld had froze over; Evander was pissed. Not that he doubted that it was ever in him, they had the same dad, but he just never thought he would be inches away from his face when the volcano erupted. But here he was, now having to defend himself from whatever would happen. This ment that Ryan had to calmly tell Evander what he had asked for. "E-van, you're talking  to someone who only left the straight and narrow last year to save his life. You have no idea why I did what I did. You stole a truck to leave your dad, I drove stolen cars to keep the Albanian Mafia off my back, and you don't want them onto you, understand? You had your reasons, I had mine."

Evander's mind raced at a thousand light years a second. He had said nothing about escaping from his dad. Few in his cabin knew the reason, only the ones he had trusted to read his letters from his sister to him. He wanted to smash Ryan's head against the table for mentioning it at all, but he held himself back, still keeping a tight grip on his half brother's collar. "I never said why I left home. Only that I didn't have a choice. What the hell do you think you know about my dad?"

"It could have been a monster! It could have been a hundred other things than me doing something to him!" Evander snapped, his face turning a ruddy complexion. He let go of Ryan's collar roughly and nearly flipped the large wooden table as he stood. "I didn't infer nothing, alright?"

He wasn't entirely sure why he was so mad at Ryan, but he was. He was livid. The past year and a half, two years, Evander had avoided discussing anything about the day he had come to camp. He had dreams about it sometimes, when he slept. It wasn't something he wanted to talk about, though. Nearly killing his dad, having lost his temper. He would do it again, but he was still ashamed. He wasn't a mindless violent goon.

Ryan hit the ground with a hard thud, saying "F**k..." under his breath as he landed. What had gotten into that kid? One second he's pissed at him for saying he follows the law and then the next he's screaming "It wasn't me!!!" in his face. Like what the crap? "Evander, what the f**k are you talking about?"

Evander growled lowly in his throat. "Don't play dumb, Ryan. Who told you? Who told you that I tried to kill him? Was it Chiara? I'll break that sawed off redhead's other knee... Or did you read my letters? Well, you don't know the whole story, alright?! He deserved it. B@stard deserved everything he got, and I'd do it again. I ain't proud of it, but I'd do it again. Alright?"

He was keeping himself back to stop himself from launching into Ryan again. He wasn't violent, at least he didn't want to be. Ryan didn't understand. How could Ryan understand? It had never been Evander's fault his mother cheated on the Marine with Ares. Evander had always looked up to his dad, until the prick changed and started being violent. Then everything changed. And when his dad hit Alexandria, well, it was one thing to hit Evander, he could and did hit back. It was another to hit someone half your size.

"Dude...what the f**k..." It was all Ryan could muster up. "This is all new to me Evander, ALL of it. I didn't know anything about your home life until you spilled it to me right here."

Evander stopped, looking at Ryan with confusion, still beet red. "The hell you mean this is new to you? Almost every demigod here has been attacked by monsters and ended up here, but you said I left because of my dad. How the hell would you make that connection without knowing something? And don't say it's because it was his truck, that doesn't really hold water."

Ryan shrugged. "Because I'm the exception to the whole 'you were attacked in your past life' thing and as such didn't really consider monsters...unless you count the Albanians as monsters, they're freaking savages if you get on their bad side."

Evander swore loudly and vehemently, pushing back his short hair with both hands in frustration. "Dude, bro, I'm sorry. I just.. I'm sorry. No excuse. You have to forgive me, I get crazy hella impulsive at times. Dude. I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Really? Just...really? This kid has crazier mood swings than a middle-school drama queen. With a roll of his eyes, Ryan said "Maybe some damage to my eardrums and you have f**ked up my shirt, but sure, I'm fine."

Evander noticed the eye roll, but forced himself not to react to it. It was understandable. He probably would have too. But still, Ryan didn't seem to understand how hard it was for Evander to control his mind and his impulses. He didn't have a filter like most people, even by demigod standards. "How bad is the shirt? I'll replace it. I swear, I don't try to be an @sshole. I just...sorry...I..." Evander blushed and looked away, "This is why I miss medication."

Ryan found Evander's apology to be an honest one, as he would expect from his half-brother. He held Evander to a higher standard then the rest of the cabin, solely due to the fact he didn't seem to be an a**hole to everyone 24/7. "Don't worry about it man, the shirt was a piece of s**t anyway. No hard feelings from me bro."

Evander still felt bad about it. "No, seriously, let me at least get you a stupid orange camp shirt to replace it. But, uh, can you kinda keep what I said to yourself? Um... He did deserve it, but I don't want people to think I'm the type of person who's gonna try to kill someone."

"Sure, yeah, get me a shirt if it helps you sleep at night. I really don't care about this one. And I won't tell anyone, but I can't say for anyone else in here." It was around the end of the de facto "lunch" period, and while the mess hall wasn't at full capacity, there were 10 or 12 stragglers who had yet to finish up.

Evander looked around and swore again, running a hand over his short hair. "Uh, yeah, guess you're kinda right there...damn. Kinda screwed up, didn't I?"

"Could be worse. You could be, say, an Aphrodite kid and not have that passive threat that comes with getting on your bad side." It was true. Even though he wasn't going to punch someone for no reason, not too many people sat around him from other cabins. A few have come up, but not many. "I'm sure you're fine. But if you do feel like making an example out of anyone, we can do that. But like I said, it's probably not needed."

Evander grunted, "Unlike some children of Ares, I'm not going to make an example of someone unless they deserve it. It isn't right otherwise."

Ryan thought he was going to respond like that. "Alright man, no complaints from me. But yeah, I'm not snitching anytime soon."

Evander nodded, rubbing the back of his neck and exhaling. He was still red. "So..um. Whatcha going to do with the rest of the day?"

Ryan though for a second and then shrugged. "I might go hit up the Game Room tonight. It's been awhile since I've touched a controller and want to for old times sake."