Central Park, New York

A violent whirl of sand and dirt swiftly appeared. When it had subsided, David had materialized on a small grassy hill in the middle of Central Park; As far as he could tell, no one had noticed his arrival. It had been a while since David had left Camp Half-Blood and the smells associated with city life, which permeated the air, stung at his nostril as he took a deep breath. David stretched and flexed his muscle; the materialization process always had an uncomfortable side effect of leaving his body unbearably sore and achy. He walked down from his elevated vantage point and sat on a bench which he found particularly dingy, but that didn’t matter to him. From his new position, he sat quickly and observed his surroundings. It was just tourists, city dwellers, and a few small critters; nothing that he considered to be interesting. He wished that some stupid monster would try to ambush him or that some group of Roman scouts would spot him and make a huge scene. Anything to rid him of the boredom that had quickly set in.

A girl with pink hair of similar height, maybe an inch or two shorter, sat down on the bench with David. She looked and sounded vaguely familiar to David, but he was unable to link her voice and face to a name. “I’m terribly sorry, but, you see, I am unable to remember your name,” He said turning his head towards her returning the smile. “I do, however, know that you’re a demigod. Well I hope you’re a demigod and not just another mortal I met in the past; otherwise, I will just seem like a rambling man in Central Park.” He broke eye contact and looked around the park, still hoping some something interesting to occur. Who was this girl, he strained mentally. He knew they had met before, but was extremely disappointed that his memory had failed him.

He thought for a several moments. Bleeding out in the forest? He’d been to the forest in Camp Half-Blood numerous times and had incurred several injuries that had caused him to bleed, but nothing he considered too serious to be described as bleeding out. Never mind he thought to himself. Instead of focusing on the bleeding out, he decided to focus on something else that could possibly lead to her name. His mind frantically searched in a scattered manner. Suddenly the obvious hit him, she had pink hair. That would only result if her hair was absorbing every color of light, but pink. Light. That was the magic thought. “You’re name is Lightning Shock. We first met in the forest of Camp Half-Blood the night I lost my immortality,” He said proud of himself. “So, Lightning, what brings you to New York.”

“This city is odd, and that really means something coming from a demigod. Its people will hate find a reason to hate you no matter what you do. Then again, that’s just humans in general. As to why I am in New York. Mostly, I am just here to get away from Camp. It’s was getting pretty dull in my opinion.” He said to Lightning. David noticed that Lightning had looked around multiple times since their conversation had started. “Are you expecting something, Lightning? A friend? A monster? Perhaps a Roman advance scouting party?” He asked, chuckling slightly. To him, Lightning seemed to be here for the same reason. Excitement.

David had a slight grin on his face. He was amused by the fact that Lightning was on guard; he never worried about anything attacking him, then again, he was pretty powerful. He dropped the thought and changed to the topic of the Romans.
“I don’t know where the Romans are, but they’re looking for us. I am just assuming they’re using standard military tactics and sending a scouting party ahead of their main force,” he said “I do know that if we don’t do something soon to slow them down, we’ll have a major fight on our hands.”

David got up off of the bench and dematerialized; heading back to Camp Half-Blood. Lightning had abruptly left and the city didn't fascinate him so there was no point in staying.

vinyl is wandering around central park, her head down and hands in her pockets. she's not sure how she wound up here, honestly; her head was left kind of fuzzy after her encounter with alexander, leaving her to stumble around in a daze. she vaguely remembers climbing into a taxi, mumbling something about new york, and shoving some cash in the dudes direction. she's pretty sure she still has that apartment she rented, has been sending in money every month for the past few years.

(she's been running jobs for the hermes campers, going up to the city to get things people wanted, and she got part of the profit.)

it doesn't make sense, why she's been paying rent when she's got a place to stay now, a place where she can stay for free. but vinyl figures it's best to keep her options open, just in case. in case of what, she doesn't know, but just in case. and, well, vinyl figures that now is as good a time as any to move back in. she's in the city and she's sick of camp, it feels suffocating and she's just felt the need to get out.

so it all makes sense, really, to disappear right now. it's her way, and that's not going to change any time soon.

it takes vinyl a moment to realize that, crap, she left all of her stuff at camp. mostl the money she saved up, her clothes, everything but what she's wearing, the knife she keeps strapped to her arm and a can of pepper spray.

this was not what she had planned.

not that she had any of this planned, because she didn't. but this just isn't her way, leaving hints and clues and something behind. there was supposed to be nothing, not the slightest trace. when vinyl disappears, she taks everything with her, and she doesn't fancy the idea of going back to get her things - she might be tempted to stay, or she might she alexander (a shudder runs down her spine, her vision goes fuzzy), or she might tell someone where she's going. and none of those things can happen, because she can't stay at camp, not like this.

(a voice in the back of her mind whispers 'not while alexander is there, not while he has so much influence over your emotions.' vinyl ignores it in favour of kicking a rock so hard it scratches the paint on a car.)

vinyl huffs before sitting down on a bench, her arms crossed over her chest. she's got her general pissed off expression, and it seems to be doing enough to drive people away.

there was a boy who seemed to be looking at her, and she sneered at him and shot him a glare. she knows she shouldn't let this get to her, never has before, but she's just. right now it feels like her blood is boiling, her skin is crawling, and she feels like such an idiot because how could she mess up like that?