Shopping with demons (private)

Arian had spent the last weekend in New Rome, bonding with the Roman demigods along with others from Camp Half-Blood. Despite her initial mistrust -- after all, they had besieged them for two weeks with ballistas and catapults -- Arian had quickly thawed up to the Romans and made a bunch of friends. Today however they'd be going back to New Jersey; their flight was scheduled in around four hours, which meant Arian still had time for a little shopping.
She was really glad to be in San Francisco too. On top of the colorful shops and large malls, the weather was actually warm. The sun was shining. Flowers bloomed.  The air smelled of bougainvillea and eucalyptus. It felt like spring, not the middle of January. So the Italian girl had decided to spend as much time outside as she could, soaking in the sunlight before having to go back to the gray sky and rainy snows of New York. She had even taken out one of her summer dresses for the occasion, a pastel yellow one with a small cleavage and a narrow belt. Of course she'd have to change before getting into the plane, but for now she was simply enjoying the morning.

Her shopping bags over her shoulder, she stopped to have a look at a shoe shop that was selling the cutest sandals. Should she…? The girl looked at the other shoes they had on display, pursing her lips. They were kind of expensive.

Jack's spring break was his salvation. School was torture, with the French teacher incapable of English (primarily her pronounciation, Jack thought she needed phonology or syntax) teaching incomprehensible French, and by the time class was finished the only word he knew was bonjour. As spring break approaches, his mom booked a flight to San Francisco in order to negotiate a ceasefire for a one week vacation before school starts again in a few weeks time. Then at one point in mid-January, they flew to San Francisco (known for hosting Starfleet Headquarters from Star Trek. And that was all Jack knew about the place) and settled down in a decent hotel. He missed Camp Half-Blood, where all of his friends, at least demigod friends, resided. But hey, Jack was told that Camp Jupiter was around one place in the city. If it was accessible he might pay it a visit

Today he nagged his Mom to grant him the superior permission to go shopping. Alone. After four bargains and two parlays, triumph was his. Dressed himself in blue jeans, with a red t-shirt solely, Nike sneakers and a square black digital watch, with his flaming machete sheathed and strapped to his back, but the hilt was carefully concealed as well, Jack departed for the shopping mall. Downtown.

He looked in awe at the vast size of the mall. Floor after floor were submerged in a gigantic crowd of shoppers going back and forth. Heh, Black Friday. Maybe. Jack, unlike many other customers, didn't bring anything to contain his purchased merchandise. But improvisation was one of his abilities.

Jack went up to floor two. Ah, the sunlight did make it here, and it was rather warm, like the dusk of summer. He went down the hall, halfway before he was pushed discourteously and crashed against someone else. A girl.

"Watch where you going, ahole!" he yelled back to the guy who pushed him. Then he turned his focus back to the other girl. "Sorry. You okay? Do you need help?" Jack offered his help as he stood up and extended his hand to get the teenager up.

Arian took his hand and stood up, doing her best to scoop up her shopping bags. "It's okay, no harm done," she said with a smile even though her back still hurt a bit. Half her bags on one arm, she suddenly did a double-take, looking at the guy more closely, her blue eyes narrowing in concentration. "Excuse me, aren't you… weren't you…," she lowered her voice, "in the Hermes cabin for a few years?"
She was practically sure she had seen him around camp, or someone that looked a lot like him. Of course, now he must've left cabin #11, but she probably missed the claiming as she was a summer rounder and always left a bit early.
Yes, now she was looking at him a bit more closely, Arian was certain of it. She herself was in the Apollo pavilion, just two cabins away from him -- contrarily to her siblings, she didn't have blond hair but she did have tan skin and sun kissed curls that fitted her olive complexion.

Jack's eyes widened. Ah, so this was another demigod. Why else would she mention it and abruptly know about it? "Obviously." Jack said in a slow tone, emphasizing the word like when Dolores Umbridge questioned Severus Snape about his attempts to run for DADA professor. "But after the Titan War I sorta…got transferred to the new cabin." he explained, scratching his head.

"Ooh, I believe we haven't introduced ourselves. So, I'm Jack. Deimos's my father. And you? What brings you out here? To Roman territory, although I mean no offense at it, the city of San Francisco?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Arian, daughter of Apollo," she smiled, picking up her last bag. Fitting them on her shoulders, she looked at Jack, her smile digging small dimples into her cheeks. "I'm here with the other campers, we had a visiting week end in Berkeley," she told him. "What about you though? You weren't with us."

"Vacation with my mom. Gotta get away from school for a while, which was practically torture. Nagged for a bit, but Mom finally let me go out here and do something…exciting at this mall." he said. It was exciting, but at the same time, dangerous and risky. Lucky though, as he remembered to bring Clarent along. The Sword of Fire was still sheathed and strapped on his back. It was enough should a monster attacked Jack and Arina.

"Exciting, huh," Arian said, her smile widening in amusement. For demigods, who spent their lives running from bloodthirsty monsters, a visit to the mall wasn't really something exciting. The girl adjusted her bags on her arms and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Well, shopping alone is rarely fun. Wanna tag along with me?" she asked in her chiming Italian accent.

Jack curled his lips into a thin smile. It's been a while since anyone actually offered him something. At least he won't be lonely for the time being. "Yeah sure." Jack said delightfully. "It's always nice having another demigod along. So where shall we go?" he asked. Jack was rather picky, so he'd let the girl choose. Otherwise he would have to choose totally by chance.

Arian nodded at the shop they were standing in front of. "Well I was considering this one but those shoes are a bit expensive," she admitted. "Let's go to Guess!"

It wasn't that Arian had a small budget -- her mother was a TV star in Italy -- but she just didn't like to brag about how much money she had, preferring to stay silent on her finances. She didn't know about Jack's means and she didn't want him to feel bad about anything.
So she stalked over to the large Guess shop, hooking her arm with Jack's so she didn't lose him in the crowd.
Frankly, Arian was here because of the fun. She didn't really care about buying stuff, really. She spent the first ten minutes looking at pieces of clothing she found funky and trying them on to laugh at her reflection in the mirror.

"Come on, Jack, this is your style" she chuckled, tossing him a yellow striped shirt printed with palm trees.

Jack crossed the crowd, hooking his arm with Arian. They needed to stick together, otherwise they would split in the vast crowd. Arriving at Guess, he took a moment to gaze around before beginning to look through the shop. Then Arian tossed him a t-shirt with yellow stripes and palm trees.

"My style?" Jack laughed. "I go for dark colors. But maybe I'll try it." As he was too lazy to go into the changing room, he immediately wore it over his t-shirt without taking it off. Thank gods the sleeve of this t-shirt was longer than his red one. "How do I look?" he asked, looking into the mirror, but failed to rate himself, a thin smile was on his face.

"Absolutely dashing," Arian chuckled. The son of Deimos looked really out of his element in that shirt. "Here, same range!" She tossed him another tee, with leopard print and a large v-neck, and disappeared into the changing room. When she came out she had big blue sunglasses and a flower crown, her body garbed in tight ripped denim shorts and a daisy crop top. "Whatcha think?" she laughed, striking a number of exaggerated poses. "Ey?"

"Thanks." he smiled again, putting on the other t-shirt she tossed him. Taking off the yellow striped t-shirt, he put the t-shirt over his blank red t-shirt, Jack looked again at himself in the mirror. He bend a smile, then turned his gaze to the recently changed Arina. "Fabulous!" he complimented. "Actually just emphasizing that. But, looks great to me." Jack shrugged. He took off the t-shirt, leaving the red one. "Any other?"

"Look over here, those should fit your liking," she giggled, leading him to an array of shirts and jackets in splashy colors and outlandish prints.

"Anything I can help you with?" a soft woman's voice asked. Arian looked around to see a stunning girl in her twenties standing behind them, with gorgeous dark skin and wavy hair dyed platinum blond. Several guys were looking at her discretely, others openly staring.

"Oh, we're just browsing a little," Arian warmly smiled, glancing at her name tag. She managed to fully decipher it after a few attempts. Makayla.

"Are you sure?" the girl purred. "Here, what do you say of this dress? It'd look gorgeous on you." She took out a random dress, light turquoise, with a pouf skirt and pink lace on the hem. It wasn't really Arian's style but she heard herself say, "Oh yes, it looks beautiful!" in a very enthusiastic voice.

"Why don't you go try it on?" Makayla suggested in her melodious voice. "Meanwhile, I'm going to look after your friend," she assured her, turning to Jack with a charming smile, brushing her glossy hair over her shoulder. Arian gave the two an amused smile and nodded. "Of course," she chirped, and went back to the changing rooms, thinking Jack was quite lucky to get flirted at by such a gorgeous girl. Every other guy in the store was looking at her but it was to him she was talking.

Jack looked in awe at the store employee. She was gorgeous. "Alright." he said absent-mindedly, as she left Arian and dragged Jack along. He wasn't even thinking clear. "So…where are we goin?" he asked stupidly, oblivious of what he was saying. But something was conspicuous. Nahhh.

Arian looked at herself in the mirror. The top of the dress was flattering to her body shape but the colors were ludicrous on her. Even the skirt had a ridiculous shape, it made her look like a pear. She had been staring at her reflection for a good three minutes now and the more she looked, the less she liked it. Why had she put it on in the first place? It had seemed so pretty back when the girl showed it to her!

-------

"I'm taking you to a better section," Makayla said, batting her eyelashes softly. "What were you doing in that dump back there, nothing would've fitted you! But I'm taking care of you now, don't worry."

Her delicate hand on his shoulder, she led him away from the colorful tees (and from the other demigod) towards a section of graphic shirts and hoodies. "Here's better, right?" she smiled, her lips glittering with gloss. "Right. We want something fashionable for you, that fits your style and your body." She started browsing through the different articles on display, frowning in annoyance after a minute or so. "This is weird. There was a shirt here that would've fitted you perfectly. I think we still have it in the back though, come with me," she told him, her sweet-smelling hair whirling around as she turned away.

Now, Jack was coming back to his senses slightly, and he protested a bit. "Uh...I don't think I should leave my friend back there like that." he said, pointing back to where he originally left, but his legs remained following the employee. "We mustn't...split." he said, half absent-mindedly. "Because of various reasons." In spite of protesting, he was still oblivious of the words.

Makayla smiled at him gently. "Come on. What could possibly happen to her in here?" Chirping a laugh, she softly wrapped an arm around his shoulders as if they were good friends… or something closer. She knew he could smell her perfume, which was steeped in magic. That would be sufficient to keep him under her grasp for a little longer.
Reaching the back of the shop, she gave him another bewitching smile and opened the door for him. No one was in there. The room was simply filled with boxes and boxes of clothing articles, shelves rising either side on the walls.
Closing the door with a wink, she wrapped both arms around his neck and pressed him against the wall, looking deep into his eyes before glancing at his mouth. Her lips were inches from his…

------

Arian was looking for a place to put the dress back. She could of course just give it to the shop assistants but she didn't like giving them more work and preferred to put her articles back herself. Dammit, where was it again?
Her eyes scanning the area, she suddenly saw Jack going to the back of the shop with the girl. Smiling to herself, she wondered if they had already exchanged numbers. Jack wasn't particularly Arian's type -- she preferred tan surfer boys like Jeremy Summers -- but that didn't mean he had no appeal whatsoever. As she looked up, she saw them disappearing behind the door and chuckled a little. At least the afternoon was turning out particularly well for someone.
Still in search of the location, she glanced again at the dress she was holding. Dear gods, what a monstrosity. Why she had accepted to put it on, she had no idea. Laughing a bit more, she strolled between the arrays of clothes, looking left and right. She must've been particularly surprised by the beauty of the girl, or something along those lines, because she remembered how enthusiastic she had sounded even if deep inside, she knew the dress would never fit her.
Jack had been worse than her though. His look when she had approached them! He was like spellbound! Arian whirled around, still holding the dress on a hook. Where was this stupid thing, santo cielo? It hadn't disappeared now, had it?
Suddenly, she frowned. Going back on her thoughts, she started to become a little stiff -- he was like spellbound. Yes … yes, he was, wasn't he? And every guy in the shop, they all had that same vacant expression of adoration on their faces, as if the shop assistant was some kind of unapproachable angel. Jack had been drinking in all her words.
… and so had she.

Now she wasn't in the girl's presence anymore, she started to think clearer, and it was like a click. She stared at the dress in horror, then her gaze shot up to the backdoor. Jack.

------

Makayla was still kissing the boy. Her lips gliding against his, she turned around so it was her back against the wall, her hands roaming across his shoulders. He wasn't that bad a kisser, actually, which was a pleasant change from the last one.

Suddenly the door burst open and the girl from before stood there, looking alarmed. "Jack, get away from her!"

"Looks like someone's jealous," Makayla purred, tilting her head. "Sorry, sweetheart, I think he likes me better. Don't you, handsome?"

"You don't understand," the girl urged. "She's an empousa!"

"Ugh." Makayla stepped away, her arms dropping down. Gods freaking dammit. Of course she could have continued to pretend, but the girl seemed determined. Maybe she had figured out she had charm spoken her earlier. "You know I really hate killing girls," she told her, her voice filled with magic. "And you seem like a nice person. Are you sure you don't want to leave me alone with your friend a little longer? We were having so much fun."

A blank expression passed on her face. "Leave you alone…," she absently repeated, blinking.

"Yes, very good," Makayla applauded as if she was talking to a five years old. "You're a very good girl. Run along now."

As if in a trance, the olive-skinned teen turned around slowly and closed the door behind her. Makayla smiled in amusement before looking at Jack from underneath her lush eyelashes. "Back to us?" she asked, her mouth reaching up to meet his.

----------------

"YOU FCKING WISH," Arian shouted as she burst back into the room. She was seething with anger. Twice, now, twice she had succumbed to this filthy charmspeak even after being exposed every summer to nuisances like Drew! Her blue eyes were flashing as she swung Harpe, her curved sword, at the empousa who reacted with incredible speed, ducking underneath the blade and jumping onto a shelf like a spider.

OOC: Post a little long. I realized them kissing was kind of power playing however the thing is empousai are really powerful, even Percy would've succumbed if Rachel hadn't been there. The only guy we see resisting them is Luke Castellan, and that's because he's been hanging out with a bunch of them for several years. But if you want me to edit, I'll do it.

Jack was then pulled into the backroom, and before he could react, he was pinned against the wall. Then she began kissing him, and that was enough to make him half-lose his consciousness. As his lips slid against hers, Arian burst into the room, but was quickly forced to leave by an unknown force. But he didn't care. Drowning back into the kiss for a while, the door burst again and Arina reappeared, then began slashing at her.

"HEY!" Jack yelled, unsheathed his machete, but it wasn't pointed at the (now acknowledged empousa) empousa but at Arian. He felt like Arian was the antagonist in this case. It was like he was hypnotised. Lunging at the demigod, Jack slashed the sword down at Arian, his strength gradually increase from the energy he was pouring into it. "DON'T YOU F-CKING HARM HER!" Jack roared defiantly, hypnotised by the kisses and the Charmspeak.

Jack pulled in all of his might and tried to pin Arian to the floor, kicking the girl furiously.

OOC: Powerplaying is fine, really. I kinda like how it is proceeding, but I want Jack to fight Arina in hypnotised mode (continue and make Makayla use her Charmspeak on Jack)

Arian was so surprised by the attack that she stayed motionless, watching with wide eyes as Jack lashed at her with a flaming machete.

"AH!" she shouted, holding her upper arm, which was now bearing a deep, stinging gash. "Jack, what the-"

But the boy had obviously lost control. Arian had to dodge away under his attacks, parrying and blocking and doing her best to keep her blows in the defensive. She didn't want to hurt him! He was bewitched.
On the shelf, the empousa giggled with glee. She really didn't like killing girls and was happy to see the boy might do the job for her. Maybe that would also show how good she was at charmspeak, maybe as good as Medea, and make Hecate proud. She was always so awfully demanding towards her children.

"Go on, kill her!" she exhorted him. "Kill her!"

Arian glanced at the she-demon with horror. This couldn't be true. Was she actually…? But Jack immediately intensified the strength of his blows, a true bloodlust in his eyes. Arian had a Hades of a time trying not to get killed, hooking her sword with his machete to try and disarm him. She wasn't in good fighting gear either: her dress flying, her hair loose, barefoot on the floor (she had kicked off her heels before entering. And no, despite whatever comic book superheroes may tell you, high heels are not adequate for combat.)

"Jack, listen to me!" she shouted, trying to cover the empousa's voice, who was still encouraging him with her magic. "Listen to me! You're under a spell! Stop--" She parried with difficulty a second before he chopped off her leg. "Stop fighting me!"

"You hate her!" Makayla was saying, her voice echoing. "You want to kill her!"

"No!" Arian doubled her efforts, her bronze sword spinning to meet Jack's weapon, her eyes filled with tears of anger. This was not fair.

Jack gritted his teeth. He was drifting between reality and the empousa's Charmspeak. When she had encouraged him, he'd poured even more strength into the sword. Before, he thought he only needed to incapacitate Arian for trying to harm Makayla, but now he reached Kill mode. His finger reached for the ruby on the hilt and the room was brightened, half-orange from the bursting fire. "LIAR!" Jack yelled straight at Arian, trying to push the fiery blade down. Arian was holding.

Then when she tried to convince him, he was suddenly pulled from the hypnotised mode to half-awake. Jack continued to slash at Arina, but a tear was visible slithering down his cheek from his left eye. "H-help…" he managed to mouth the word. Yet, he was only half-awake. His hands continued to slash vigorously and valiantly, his legs kicking.

In that instant, Arian regained all the hope in the world. Jack was resisting. All wasn't lost. She fought harder, trying to disarm him like they did during training, but the burst of flames blinded her every time it came too near. She wasn't particularly scared of fire but when she suddenly smelled burnt hair, she knew to keep her distance from the thing.

"Faster! Kill her now!" Makayla urged him, putting all her power into her voice. She sensed she was losing her grip on him every now and then and was determined to win this.

She needs to shut up, Arian furiously thought. I need to toss something at her or shout or… Sudden realization hit her and she almost lost an arm to Jack's blade. Swinging her sword up, she hit it out of the way just in time, her blue eyes gleaming happily. Of course!

Concentrating wasn't easy with Jack in killer mode but it started slowly, growing and growing like a faint roar. Bohemian Rhapsody. There were no speakers around, nothing from which the sound could've come from. But there it was, the song playing higher and higher until it reached a volume so loud it felt almost like a chainsaw.

"MAMAAAA OOOOOH," Freddie Mercury's voice boomed all around them. "I DIDN'T MEAN TO MAKE YOU CRY…"

Arian grinned up at the empousa, who was seething with rage.

"…IF I'M NOT BACK AGAIN TOMORROW…."

She didn't care if she was losing energy. Jack had stopped fighting and she was looking at him expectantly, her eyes glistening with hope.

"…CARRY ON, CARRY ON…." The song was radiating from her, a little bit louder, thundering like a canon, but her ears weren't hurting one bit. The winds were turning in their favor.

The deafening and valiant scream of rage Charmspeak from Makayla was dwarfed and muted by the abrupt burst of music in every single corner of the room. It was loud, and echoed across the entire store. And his mind regained full control, as he staggered, recovering from the Charmspeak. And then he regained full consciousness.

"Arian…" he murmured. Jack was horrified of what he just did. And in that moment, more tears slithered down from both his eyes. But they were tears of anger.

Jack immediately turned around, facing Makayla. His eyes were of fiery anger. He raised Clarent.

"YOU USED ME AGAINST MY FRIEND!" he roared, so loud it was audible in the explosions of sounds. He charged at Makayla, smashing down anything that got in his way, set it ablaze. "YOU MOTHERF-CKER!" Jack cussed.

Then when he faced the empousa, he focused diverting his energy into his powers, then focused on pouring them into her head.

Makayla saw she was outnumbered. With the little nuisance and her music, her beautiful charm speak couldn't work. But that didn't mean all was lost.

Suddenly, the door opened. "What is happening here?" the shop supervisor asked, but with the music blaring, Makayla had to read on her lips to understand what she was saying.

"GOODBYE EVERYBODY," the song kept playing. "I'VE GOT TO GO!" Arian had turned around as well and knew they must be quite a sight. She, barefoot, with bleeding wounds and Jack, who had a blazing -- something -- in his hands, she didn't know what the Mist was turning his weapon into. And last but not least, the gorgeous shop assistant perched on her shelf.

Arian's concentration wavered and the song dropped in volume.

"Help me!!" Makayla whimpered, jumping on the occasion. "They attacked me!"

"What?!" Arian shouted. "No, she-"

But the supervisor was obviously listening to Makayla's magic voice. "What is this? Come down, honey, security is here. Come here."

Trembling and pulling the face of a terrified victim, Makayla climbed down and nestled in the arms of the supervisor. Two hands grabbed Arian's wrists and twisted them behind her back, making her drop her sword.

"Ouch!" she protested. "You don't understand, she's the one…!"

But no-one was listening to her. Already the security guards were pulling them out of the room under the gaze of wide-eyed customers. Arian grimly glanced at Jack. This couldn't end here. If the empousa got her way, not only would both of them have problems with the law, but she would also remain free of killing whoever she wanted. How many men had she killed already? Ten? Twenty? More? It was time for her to pay Tartarus a little visit in Arian's opinion.

Of course, if she killed someone right here under everyone's noses, that would make her problems with the law even bigger. Maybe she should wait until they were in the police car. But that was, admitting they'd even share a police car. Arian counted her options, trying to think ahead.

Being headstrong was one of Jack's weaknesses. When the rough hand had caught his sword arm, he immediately thumped on the security guard's chest, sending him flying backwards and tumbled over a shelf. Another came at him, which he ducked downwards and smashed him in the ribs, sending him yelping and crashed on the floor. "Aw, that punch was cute." Jack taunted. "Where did you learn that: martial arts school for idiotic security guards?" he taunted.

Another one of the guards came at him, which he quickly kicked him, landing on another security guard. More and more were storming, but Jack didn't give a flying f-ck. His fun was quickly deprived when one of them managed to send a punch across his face; Jack stumbled backwards, over a table and lands on it. The guard jumped on top of him and began beating him, punching him violently in the face. Soon, his face was covered in blood, his nose broken. Then the guard smashed his leg down on Jack's arm, which instantly broke it's bone and loosened his grip on the sword. Clarent tumbled to the floor with a CLANG!

Then the guard pushed him from the table and pinned him to the floor, both his hands grasped. Jack struggled, "Oi!" he protested, "LET ME GO, YOU D-CKSUCKER!" he yelped, but the guard smashed him behind his head. Yep, he lost.

As the security guards lifted Jack's incapacitated body, he caught Arian in his gaze, and Makayla the empousa grinning evily next to the unharmed supervisor. "I'm sorry." Jack muttered as the two of them were hushed together to the front door, except Jack was pulled. Jack tried one last effort.

As they were halfway to the escalator, he poured his powers into the two security guards. Fortunately they were alone from the other guards. They screamed, grabbing their heads by their temples. Jack fell to the floor. He had a broken arm, bruises covered his body and a gash on his chest added the bonus. The guards dropped cold to the floor, to the horror of shoppers around, who began screaming.

Hearing the security guards shout in terror, Arian's heart went out to them. They hadn't done anything to deserve that, they were just doing their job! If only there was a way she could tell them how sorry she was about all of this... But for now, she had to use this diversion. Breaking away from their grasp, she sprinted towards a fountain for cover and whipped her bow out, selecting an arrow with a vivid pink tip. Lodging it on the string, she immediately drew back and let go. The arrow hissed through the air and hit the ground an inch from the empousa's feet before exploding in a huge, gooey puddle.

Bubble gum arrow, b!tch.

The gorgeous creature let out a shriek and tried to step away, but her feet were stuck. Flailing, she almost fell backwards but caught herself at the last moment. That's when Arian's second arrow got her, right above the collarbone. With a hiss, she shot her a dirty look before breaking the arrow off at the tip and unlacing her shoes. With an inhuman bound, she leapt and landed on a table, her naked feet starting to blur.

"You would've been safe if only you had gone with them," Makayla growled. "But you asked for this."


Her beautiful platinum hair turned into a shower of fire. Her eyes turned red like fresh meat and fangs grew out of her mouth. She jumped off the table and when she landed, her legs had changed: one of bronze, one of a donkey.