Living the Not-So-Easy Life

Elise felt weird. Really weird. She wasn't used to being at camp this early in the year. She had always been someone who only stuck around for the summers and then had gone home. Arriving slightly before summer arrived was a bit of a mind-flip for her, if she was being honest. The sheer  lack of kids that were actually here now was honestly a bit disorienting. Usually you had tons of campers running around, getting burnt on the lava wall, getting in Cabin Feuds, training, and so much more. Now? It was just a handful of kids by comparison. She figured that seeing the same people over and over again day after day might get on your nerves if they were the only person you could speak to for a while. The kids that stayed year-round must either really start to resent one another or form some tight-knit circles of friends. For the sake of herself, she opted to think it was the latter.

The overall lack of campers was still apparent when she walked through the door to her cabin and looked around at the empty bunks and work spaces. Well, empty was a relative term. Children of Athena always had a new project or idea they wanted to work on. She thought they were like the Hephaestus kids in that regard. They already pushed all of their beds to the wall to make room for their projects, but even then, work space was limited. Usually she might argue or fight over a particular area. But now? Now the cabin had significantly less bodies to say otherwise. That was a definite perk about already being here. Elise had already unloaded her bags at her bunk earlier in the day. She'd yet to greet all of her siblings who were still around, but she could get to that later.  Now it was time for her to stake a claim at one of the tables and lay out her stuff. She preferred that to going out and finding them anyway. They'd all probably just ask how she got her new scar on her forehead, and she really preferred not to explain how her over-confidence almost got her killed. Gently poking through the books on the shelf she quickly pulled out a book that simply covered Greek Mythology in general. She was more interested in the locales described, but this would definitely do. She swiftly dumped said book onto the nearest table, returning to her bag to obtain a map of Greece and the United States to compare side by side. Why, you might ask, is she currently digging through her bag for those? Well it's simple. When Olympus moved shop to America, almost everything moved with it. So if you ever wanted to find something just know where it was. Then it'll be much easier to figure out where it went.

It would have been disturbing to Robert to walk into a place like the Athena cabin. It was apparent that sleep was very secondary to the residents of this place, as even what was considered pre-summer, the beds were all pushed against the wall, maybe even enough to do short-term structural damage, Robert could have guessed. What was disturbing to him was also a pleasant surprise. He recognized and could understand a fair amount of what was around him. There were empty tables, and it seemed like people would keep their belongings near their bed or by these work-spaces. Surely they couldn't spend all their time here, could they?

"Excuse me." Robert asked one of the girls. He didn't make any generalizations on her appearance, as he was relatively certain that they were half-siblings. She almost looked more familiar than the rest of the people in the cabin, who, despite being in few, had mostly similar eyes and hair. It creeped Robert out a little bit. "My name is Robert." He held is hand out for her to shake, as was customary during a meeting in the west. "I think we're half-siblings." He explained, though, if they shared even part of the same mental strength, she would have figured that out. For all Robert knew, he was one of the dumb ones of the Athena cabin. He actually almost hoped that was the case.

"I don't really know the protocol to beds and work-space, I just came to this place my first time. Is there a system, or is it first come, first serve?" Robert asked. He was hoping she would relate with him, after all, she must have been new at some point too. Though, from what he understood, he showed up much later than most kids would in their life.

"Excuse me, a voice called out, bringing Elise out of her own little world of thought. "My name is Robert. I think we're half siblings."

Elise looked up from her bag at the boy standing over her, extending his hand outwards to her. Taking her hands from her bag, she clapped them together a few times, standing up from her crouched position to face the boy.

"Well I'd certainly hope so," she said simply looking him over. "You're in my cabin," she continued in a matter-of-fact tone, taking one of her hands from her hips to shake his hand. "But I'm not worried about it, you've got the look of one of Mom's kids as far as I can tell," she said reassuringly, dropping her hand back to her side. "Elise, she said with a small smile, always happy to meet a new sibling. Although, she was honestly surprised she hadn't seen this one before.

He said he was new to camp, but this kid looked around Elise's age, if not older. Kids usually got to camp by the age of thirteen for obvious reasons. To be outside of it's protection when monsters really started to pick up on your scent was dangerous. Gods, this was Elise's fourth year at camp and she still almost died that year. Granted that was mainly her own fault, but still. Combat training was vital to any demigod. Either this kid had some insane survival skills, or something kept the monsters away from him.

But that didn't matter. He was here now, the same as any other kid who walked into the cabin for the first time, and Elise was definitely treating him like she would any other. Never condescending, she still spoke to him with the attitude and tone that she'd use on a twelve year old who'd just made it to camp for the first time. Even if this kid was older than her, he still had a lot to learn about everything around him. His questions only confirmed that idea to her.

"Well you know your bunk I assume," she shrugged, gesturing to her stuff at her own bed. "So that's step one of knowing protocols to beds and work space. Now, as for the work-spaces..." She smiled, pointing to the myriad of tables and projects clustered about. "Those are first-come first-serve, but you might want to be prepared to fight for space once the rest of our siblings show up during the summer. Then things get a bit chaotic. Or competitive. Or both," she concluded with a sly smile, folding her arms.

What? This kid was her brother. She could afford to tease him.

Or scare him.

Just a bit.

Not too much.

"Yeah, I've noticed competitive and chaotic turn more and more into synonyms each day." Robert joked. "I used to play hockey when things were normal." Robert said, which was an utterly bittersweet sentence to him. "I can keep up." That was assuming there were no weapons involved, anyway. It was a subject Robert very quickly decided he wouldn't be sharing with people; as it was something that could easily tear apart his transparency at this camp. He still wasn't sure how he wanted to continue with his plans in life, but at least he was in a safe place to plan it out.

"I assume that makes you one of the people not to mess with if it's space you're looking for?" Robert asked. He'd kept his eyes on Elise so that she didn't perceive he was trying to measure her. It was a strange thought, everyone here, at least almost everyone, had the same eyes and similar hair, and incredible intelligence. Elise had displayed something of leadership, he couldn't tell if he was intimidated or warmed by her. Either way, he didn't wish to display either emotion.

"It must get cramped in here, at least if this isn't even everyone. There's a lot of beds and only a little space." Robert noted. He approached his bed, leaving what little he had brought with him, which was just clothes, skates, and a hockey stick, with some few bits and bobs. He'd figured that there had to be an ice rink within an hour away.

Robert approached a table, the one aside from Elise. Standing there, he put his hands on the oak, and for the moment, he almost felt like he belonged. He looked up, confused, something he never was. "So... do most of us call Athena "mom?"

When things were normal, Elise thought at Robert's remark. The way he said it seemed reminiscent. Elise had dealt with her adjustment to life at Camp Half-Blood long ago, but Robert? If he just arrived here, and was as new to all of this as he claimed he was, then his life must be completely out of order. He must not know what to believe by this point.

Her small smile fading slightly, Elise attempted to take a tone that was both direct and comforting. Even if she saw her new brother as a kid, she wouldn't patronize him with baby-talk.

"Hey look, honestly, things are never normal to begin with. Whether we realized it or not, all of our lives were affected by what we just couldn't see or understand. There's still stuff we don't see or understand. Or stuff we just don't dare to. The world may seem normal, but it's just a ton of layers of crazy that's always been with you," Elise huffed, folding her arms. "I mean, for Zeus's... or whatever god's sake, Athena is a virgin goddess! You were literally delivered to your dad after being born from her mind! Trust me, normal is never a thing. Life at camp... you really love it," she concluded, trying to give a small, comforting smile. She knows she went on a bit, but she had a point to make anyway.

Moving on from her little rant, she listened as Robert pegged her as one of the kids not to mess with when it comes to work space. He wasn't wrong, but she wouldn't choke-slam one of her sisters through a desk for trying to use it before her. No one would. She should probably clarify on that.

"Well, no one's actually going to fight over space. Unless someone is seriously pissed off. It's fight as a general term. And as far as I go, you'll be perfectly fine so long as you don't mess with my stuff while it's out. I clean up after myself at the end of the day anyway, but moving something a few inches on that map can equate to me being a lot of miles off my mark, you know?" Elise asked, trying to relate to the boy. "And don't even worry about the space issue, we're never overflowing with kids, the cabin accommodates us all, kids from other cabins traditionally don't enter other kid's cabins, and we clean up after ourselves. This place'll clear up in no-time by the end of the day. And the weapon shed is on the side of the building if you need it. Just thought I'd toss that in there," she shrugged, feeling like a bit of a tour guide, but not minding. It wouldn't be the first time.

Walking next to Robert, Elise hopped up on the table he had gone to and crossed her legs over one another, swinging them lightly. Taking slightly aback by his question, she let out a small sigh. "No... not traditionally. We do at times, but it's just in passing really. I've never even met her, so I don't even feel like I'm allowed to call her mom. She's the Goddess Athena most of the time but... it simplifies it at times... She shrugged simply as she slowly swung her legs, taking on an expression she saw as at least slightly morose.