Cutting out bad habits

ooc: I'm going to assume it's winter? If not, feel free to correct me!

Clyde's brow sweat, in spite of the wispy, nagging New York winter winds. Why did Chiron allow for cold weather when he could manipulate the climate here? Holiday spirit? Whatever, it didn't matter. His pseudo-Canadian upbringing prepared him for such conditions anyway.

WHAAAAAM

The bronze arm of the fighting automaton struck Clyde on the left side of his abdomen. Ouch. The pain inflicted was heavy but Clyde didn't have time to worry about it as he prepared to dodge another swing, ducking and maneuvering himself to get behind his opponent. Jeez, for some practice dummies, these sure do pack a punch.

In one swift movement he spun his celestial dagger out of his pocket. As he impaled his dagger in the back of the automaton he felt a sharp pain in his finger tip as blood seeped out. Clyde had cut himself when he pulled out his weapon. I hate really papercuts. Before he could get a clean stab into the automaton, the machine swung itself free with an attempted hit to Clyde's stomach. Again, he was able to evade contact, barely.

Now, at a distance, Clyde was at a disadvantage, yet still armed. Forget this, Clyde thought, and threw his dagger with accuracy at the atutomaton's head, knocking it square in it's head. The bronze machine toppled over, smoking. "Well that's that". He then heard a rustling in the bushes behind him and he raised his head, alert after retrieving his weapon.

OOC: May I?

BIC: Dae Seung came out of the undergrowth, holding a dagger in each hand. She was just coming from the squatting racks, her arms glistening with sweat, and intended to take a short ten minutes session in the arena before canoeing. Her cabin (literally composed of three people) was hitting the kayaks with the Hebe kids for two hours and she needed to dice something up before then.

"Whassup," she said, nodding at the guy. It was Clyde, the quiet Hermes guy. Quiet was not the word people generally used to describe children of Hermes, but Clyde barely spoke, unless spoken to. When Dae Seung lived in the Hermes cabin (before joining Kronos), she had often seen him with that other guy, Tim. But she had never really talked to any of them. She was too busy hanging out with Lindsey, Jay and Ethan.
Today, only Lindsey and her were left.

As she walked towards the dummies, she glanced at the broken, destroyed, smoking automatons strewn across the ground. Wow. She turned to look at Clyde over her shoulder. "Rough day?"

OOC: She's wearing an orange camp shirt messily cut into a crop top, camo pants and combat boots. She has broad shoulders and is pretty ripped (lifts weights a lot), and has a sort of swag in her style, a bit like a high school jock.
(I went with Dae Seung cause she is really into rap and hip hop, actually dreams of making it a career, but in contrary to introverted Clyde, she's really confident and outspoken.)

OOC: absolutely, I've been itching for some character development!

"Rough day?" a charming voice greeted from behind Clyde, startling him. The Hermes descendant quickly turned, straightening his naturally hunched back. It was a girl, Clyde had seen her before. She, like Clyde appeared to be Asian. She was also sweating, far more than Clyde. That, however, was where the similarities ended.

Unlike Clyde she had a defined muscle structure, a looser, combat-ready outfit and a headstrong appearance in her posture. Clyde caught himself staring 3 or so seconds too long at her taut shoulders before gathering himself. From a military-ready sort of index test, the son of Hermes' figure paled in comparison. Or contrast. He hadn't been this flustered since he was almost caught for car-jacking his vice principal's Camaro last school year.

Still he managed to hastily offer a response. "We're good here , nothing I couldn't handle", he said with a humble grin. He noticed that she too favored the dagger, a feature he found interesting.

Oh Hades, I know I've seen her before. What's her name? I'm positive I've seen her spitting bars and lyrics with the satyrs sometime. Damon? No. Daily? Whatever, just don't be awkward.  

In an unusual move, he offered a handshake: "Tanxing Yen. Call me Clyde, though". Nice, you just had to make it awkward, huh?

Dae Seung looked surprised by the introduction for about two seconds, then just grabbed his hand and gave it a firm shake. "Clyde? As in Bonnie and Clyde?" She gave him one of her too-large grins before introducing herself. "I'm Daeseung. I've seen you around, haven't I? Used to hang out in cabin 11 back when I was unclaimed. You're one of the Hermes kids."

The girl had a strong, business handshake, the sort of thing that used to catch Clyde by surprise. By this point, he was prepared for it, however, noticing her toothy grin. She introduced her as Daesung and quickly deducted his identity as a Hermes kid, probably from her time as an unclaimed demigod.

Clyde nodded in her affirmation, greeting her with a slight smile. Bonnie and Clyde, exactly. He spent a few more seconds skimming her profile. She wore a make-shift cropped Camp Half blood tee complete with battle garb. Gathering from the amount she was sweating, she was probably packing relatively light if she was exercising. In short, she had nothing worth stealing. No need to make enemies anyway.

He then turned to the smoking automaton. Well, what was he gonna do? He wasn't supposed to strike it in the head, as it made repairs much more difficult, but he lost himself in frustration. No matter, one of the Hephaestus cabinmates would take care of it. Still examining the broken dummy, he inquired:

"So what brings you here?" he asked.

"Same thing as you. I feel like destroying some stuff."

She smiled again -- her grins were always too wide, too sharp, almost creepy. She couldn't help it, it was just the way she smiled. Being the daughter of Deimos often blurred the line between looking relaxed and disturbing.
Holding her daggers casually, she kicked the first automaton to life and put it on level 7. It sprang up, hissing with steam, swinging a sword at her neck. She ducked and slashed through the wiring of his hip. But the automaton's torso had reconstructed around a spinning blade that whirled its way towards her face -- Dae Seung barely had the time to stumble back before it could drill a hole into her forehead.
This was why she liked fighting automatons. With monsters and demigods, she could use her powers. But terror just didn't work on metal. Here, she had to work on her technique.
The next moments became a blur of hits, stabs and screaming cogwheels. Her daggers went for the wiring, as it was easier to damage than the sleek bronze armour, but the dummy seemed to catch the drift and started anticipating her attacks. She got him suddenly by a fast, hard cut to the side of the neck, straight through the rota-motor cable. The automaton slowly clanked to the ground limb by limb and spat some oil before dying out.

OOC: Sorry for my absence, I was on vacation!

IC: The girl flashed another wide grin, slightly unnerving Clyde. Destroying stuff, huh? Clyde never destroyed nor killed for the sake of destroying or killing; it was always purposeful. Well, usually.

He raised an eyebrow as the girl set the automaton back to life, this time putting it at a level seven. An attempt to show off her skill? Something about this girl told Clyde that he shouldn't have a single reason to worry.

His thought was correct as Daesung made quick work of the machine, revealing her skill with daggers. No fluff, no magic, just pure technique. Percision. Still, a level seven was not to be taken lightly and Dae Sung just barely found time to leave a drill mark in its forehead as she slightly lost her balance. Most people wouldn't have noticed such a slight blunder, but Clyde had practiced similar maneuvers as well. The automaton crumpled in yet another feeble defeat. Black residue leaked out as a sign of its resignation. Impressive. She moved with surprising speed, given how tired she appeared. Was she a daughter of Ares? Athena, perhaps? Hephaestus would make sense too, as she was able to find the automaton's exact weakness. She certainly had the build for it. Definitely not one of Aphrodite's kids. It wouldn't hurt to ask.

"Nice. Your movements are so swift.", Clyde said coolly, allowing a hint of admiration to flutter in his tone. "Pardon, me but, who's your parent?"

Daeseung wiped the oil from her blades. "Deimos. Terror," she replied, then looked back up and gave a wry smile. "He's an @sshat, but he's my dad. We ate ice cream once."

It wasn't necessarily her happiest memory, but it had made her question a lot of things she had thought and believed up till then. She hadn't quite known what to make of that meeting, and part of her was still pissed, but at least she didn't hate him that much anymore.

"Did you ever get to meet Hermes?" she asked, partly curious and partly to get off the topic of Deimos.

Now that was a question he hadn't expected. All the same, Daesung seemed to be uncomfortable when talking about her own father. Her brief story didn't seem to be the fondest memory, so Clyde was happy to avert the topic, even if it was to himself.

"Hermes? Oh yeah, Dad", he grumbled, "Once or twice. Maybe a third time if you count the time he posed as a convenience store clerk the first time I stole a pack of Juicy Fruit." The thief god's son nervously twirled his dagger between his fingers. Suddenly he allowed himself a chuckle, observing Daesung's getup. She looked far more befitting of a summertime Chicago teen than he did. Even her throaty voice matched that of a Windy City citizen.

"I'm sorry", he said, "it's just that you remind me of some kids from back home. You into hip hop?"

She grinned. "You bet your @ss I am. What, are you too?"

They wouldn't be the only ones at camp, a lot of demigods liked hip hop. But maybe he was as much into it as she was. After all, she'd been ready to make it her actual life back when she was twelve -- if only that incident at the audition hadn't happened.