dropping the bass and also all your dignity [private]

Darwin was pretty sure he had the right place... but it looked abandoned.

The doors were unlocked, so he could easily push his way in with his elbow to open the door and his foot to open it fully while holding the heavy tuba case in both hands -- not that this was complicated, but when it feels like you're cradling a baby elephant in 80-ish degree F weather it really does make things worse for you.

The Apollo kid who had paid him to fix it wasn't in the room like he said he would be at this time. Gently, the son of Hephaestus laid down the case on the floor and looked around; the piano was shut, there were some music stands and stools and chairs scattered all around, stray papers of blank sheet music on the ground. Guess nobody used this place much anymore, he thought to himself, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Hey." I said quietly. I picked up most of the scattered blank sheet music. "Sorry for the mess I made. I guess I had a breakdown." I told the guy.

I opened the piano and started playing music. "Do you know this?" I asked him. He didn't answer so I kept playing. I missed playing for my family. I stopped playing when a tear escaped my eyes. I wiped of the single tear and talked to the guy. "I'm Jade, you are?" I asked him.

Darwin almost jumped into one of the open cabinets when he heard the girl's voice -- it was like she had appeared out of nowhere, or maybe she'd been out of view in one of the darker corners. Who knows these days? Demigods and their weird powers.

He wasn't really sure what to think of her and her, uh, breakdown and her music -- she didn't really let him answer before leaping back to the piano to play a bit -- but she seemed sort of upset so he didn't say anything until she finished. "Uh. Darwin. Yeah. You... okay there?"

"Uh. Darwin. Yeah. You... okay there?" he asked. "Yeah I guess I am." I told him. "You're a Hephaestus kid aren't you? I asked him. I looked at him and noticed that he was a bit nervous. "Do you know Liam Axford? I haven't heard from him. If you see him can you tell him to give me a ring?" I asked him once again.

How did she know that? Maybe it was Darwin's very sturdy build, or his calloused hands, or the fact that he had several burns and bruises on his arms from a bad robot one of his siblings had made and which decided to go haywire when they finally turned it on a few days ago. Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, he mumbled in reply, [color=seagreen]"Ah, no, I don't know a Liam. Sorry. If he's new to camp or somethin' I probably haven't met 'em."