Veronica chuckled at Jason's barb. "Actually, I am." That's exactly what she was doing. Nemesis was… an interesting mother.
She watched as Amelia scrambled to catch up with Jason, before following them, blade drawn.
(yes its short but she's just a plot device XD )
Jason glanced at his side. Seemed she'd managed to catch up with him. A part of him was surprised and a tiny bit impressed, he didn't think she'd come after him even if the Nemesis girl threatened her. He figured she'd just lay in the grass crying. Amelia's make-up was badly smudged and Jason was clearly inspecting it. Not water-proof, but the lashes were real after all. Huh. He'd been wrong about that one.
He was still busy gently poking the bridge of his nose, agitating the injury, he knew he shouldn't, but it was a bad habit of his. The little thrill of pain kept making him wince though, but he needed to make sure it wasn't broken.
"Yeah, it does that. You'd think someone with such a pathological need to be liked would have learned to be less of an asshole by now." Jason shrugged. He didn't seem very bothered, his annoyance came and went. Blessedly there was silence for a moment, but because Jason didn't know how to shut up, he spoke.
"Sure we don't need to call a time-out for you to fix your make-up? Pretty sure that counts as an injury for you." He was speaking lightly again, he was determined to be in a good mood today. He was not letting other people ruin it.
With the Blue flag in their hands, the three Red soldiers made their way back to their flag. Coral and Malcolm kept to areas with a lot of foliage and shrubbery, which made it harder for other people to see them. Whenever she heard someone coming in their direction, she would stop and hide behind a tree, holding her breath until she was sure the others had passed them.
"I can't believe it," Malcolm exclaimed. "We're going to win!"
She glanced around, as she moved quickly onto the next area. "We're not in the clear yet."
She heard leaves rustling from one of the trees above them, and she stopped moving. There, sitting on a branch, was Reo. She had forgotten that he was playing, and she wondered why he was just sitting on a tree branch, spectating the game. Perhaps the reason was brought up during the planning…the one she didn't hear a word of. Oh, well.
"Reo," she whispered. "We got the flag."
Reo sat, more like squatted, in his tree, watching the rest of the red team below him. Idiots, all being loud and announcing their presence to the whole world. He sighs, despite how fun it would be to see his team attacked, he didn’t want to get caught up in the melee.
He moved to the other side of his tree, quickly and carefully making his way down the tree he had chosen and then moving carefully away through the bushes. He picks his way through them, trying to be careful to avoid any cuts or scrapes. He still had no idea why, with his Hemophilia B, he was still expected to play this stupid game. Though it couldn’t really kill any of the other campers, unless they had a condition like his or something, it could certainly end with Reo in an early grave.
Reo blinks when he hears his name, turning slightly, “Oh. . . Well. . . That’s good, glory to Red Team?” He murmurs, though he sounded unsure, and mostly, as if he didn’t care. He was just trying not to- He lets out a hiss as an errant branch cut his arm. Though the wound wasn’t too deep, it was deep enough to have the blood running down his arm. It was just a scratch and yet the thin slow trickle was still there. Damn his blood!
Amelia narrowed her eyes at hik as she noticed him inspecting her. She knew her appearance didn't look the best, (something she would fix rhe moment this was over), but that wasn't her top priority at the moment. She was still trying to calm her breathing down. She was raising her hands to swat his own away from his nose. She moved so she was un front of him, gently grabbing his face to inspect his nose.
She glared at him at his words. "First of all, I don't need to be liked by you. You're a dick. You'll always be one. So I'm not trying to be liked by you. Why would I? Second of all, maybe don't be rude to the person trying to help you." She used her dagger to cut a bit of his shirt off, because there was no way she was using her own, and held it up to him. "Put pressure on your nose and keep your head down. It's not broken but it's gonna have a mean bruise tomorrow."
She fell back in step next to him. It was up to him if he wanted to take her advice but she knew she was right. She hung out with the Apollo kids enough to know how to treat a basic injury like a bloody nose. He would want to ice when they got back and after it had stopped bleeding.
She whipped her dirty hands on her jeans, trying to clean them up before swiping under her eyes and cleaning up her face. She just needed a goof shower at this point. She wanted to wash the day away. This had sucked. "I'm fine, but thanks for your concern m." She gave him the finger.
(gonna make a couple of assumptions here)
They had paused a couple of times, Eric content to follow Coral's lead. This most recent stop had them under a tree, talking to… Reo? in the surrounding bushes.
Eric heard a noise behind them, and turned, only to see the two Blue team 'guards' he'd trapped coming around the bend of the river, moving kinda quickly with-… Veronica. Eric sighed as he recognized the daughter of Nemesis. She was vindictive and good with a blade, and he didn't like that she was one of the ones chasing them down.
He turned to Coral and nodded at Malcolm. "Dale la bandera, de volada!" He nudged Malcolm in the direction of the Red flag once he had the flag. "Run, fast."
Veronica had caught sight of them, and saw the handoff. She took off at a sprint after Malcolm, though the Nike kid was much faster. She wasn't giving up though, and the two disappeared into the foliage.
Leaving Eric, Reo, and Coral to face off with Amelia and Jason.
Reo bites his lip, worried about the cut on his arm, and more worried about the other two coming at the three of them. He moves backwards, towards the cover of the bushes, but he knew it was a fruitless effort. He’d already been seen.
He looks at his arm, at the cut which, on a normal person, would have cloted already, but for him, was still trickling blood down his arm at the same rate. He looks up, “I can’t stay and fight-“
Jason flinched just slightly as Amelia grabbed his face, he didn't mean to, but he did. She was inspecting his nose and he glared, brushing her off as soon as she was done. It was interesting, she seemed to have interpreted his 'need to be liked' comment as for her. Seems like he found an insecurity~ To be totally honest he'd been talking about himself, like usual. But it was neat to see how other people interpreted their own weaknesses in his sentences.
"I know how to deal with bruised noses, thanks." He flipped her off in return, speeding up just slightly. Veronica sped up too, but exponentially faster, running past the two and after the first sight of Blue she saw. Ole! Jason snickered silently, but his attention was grabbed quickly by the other three. They were outnumbered and hopelessly outmatched. Jason sighed, remembering his favorite mantra. If you can't beat them, curl up into a little ball to protect your vital organs. To be safe, he put his helmet on to protect his skull.
(bye bye Rhys)
"Vamos, niño. Yo creo en ti," she had whispered as Malcolm took the flag from her and then ran off, with Veronica on his trail. She hoped that Malcolm would make it, knowing firsthand what Veronica would do to him if she caught up. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the two soldiers that were with Veronica. It was those…guards that she had seen at the shore before she found the flag. She stared at them, trying to remember their names. But the only name she actually remembered was Jason's…only because of how arrogant he was, always thinking he was better than the others. She took out her sword and looked at Jason and Amelia grimly. She got into a fighting stance, but she didn't strike. No, she would wait for the others to make the first move. Perhaps there was a way to avoid a fight. At Reo's statement, she looked up at him, a confused expression on her face. "Wait, what do you mean by that?"
Amelia stopped as she saw the others. She blinked. There was two of them and three of the others. This was exceptionally unfair. Especially because neither she nor Jason were fighters. Amelia relied on, well, her beauty and words to deescalte the situation and Jason used his head. Though, perhaps that was what had gotten them in this psotion in the first place.
She let out a shaky breath as she looked at the other three. It seemed they were at a standstill. Amelia wasn't fighting. If they attacked she was running the other way. She didn't fight. And hitting a dummy was a lot different than hitting someone else. Now that she thought of it, she didn't think she had ever engaged in combat during Capture the Flag.
Jason had put his helmet on but she had kept her back at the base of that tree. She hadn't thought ti grab it when she was having a panic attack. Maybe she coukd get them out ifnthis by talking. The others were more than welcome to run along. She wasn't going to try and stop them from anything. She didn't really care what they did to Jason as ling as she was left alone.
But just as she opened her mouth to speak, the earth began to shake. And not because of some child trying to win the games. The entire camp shook. The ground was breaking and black shadows were emerging from the earth. There was an angry god amongst them.
Being quiet and a people-watcher had it's advantages. Eric started to answer Coral's question about Reo, since he'd noticed the boy's problem prveiously. "Tiene problemas con su sangre-" when the ground began rumbling, shaking, moving under his feet. His immediate reaction was to try to still it, channeling his power into stopping whatever was moving the earth.
It didn't work, and Eric felt his control broken by something with a much stronger grip on the dirt than he had. He did the next best thing, and yanked up a rock base around his ankles, anchoring him in place for the moment.
He grabbed for Coral and Reo, the two closest to him, and got a grip on each of their belts, trying to keep them from falling or getting thrown by the sudden earthquake. Reo especially.
He made eye contact with Amelia and Jason both, and jerked his head, as if to say Come here!. He didn't know if they would listen, but his protective streak was telling him to at least try.
She didn't have time to respond when all of a sudden the ground started rumbling and shaking. At first, she thought it was an earthquake…a rather large one. It wouldn't be the first time, as she had experienced a rather large earthquake when she still lived in Mexico. But then she started to notice the ground breaking and black shadows coming out from the earth. She knew this was not normal. This was the doing of a god. She took a deep breath and concentrated, and vines started growing from the ground. Various vines wrapped around their legs, preventing them from being thrown to the ground. Even if it did happen, the vines would bring them back to their place.
A fight looked like it might not actually break out. Jason breathed out a tiny breathe, neither side was actively attacking the other and if worst came to the worst, he could shove Amelia in the way and run. The other team seemed to be figuring out a problem of their own and not beating the snot out of him. So that was positive.
Jason was just about to make a snide comment that would most certainly get him in trouble when the ground started to shake. His head immediately whipped over to the Hephaestus kid, didn't he have earth powers? Was he attacking them after all? Did he need to throw Amelia? But- Gods, what was his name? In the split-second Jason didn't quite remember, but he did notice the look of confusion, then struggle. It wasn't him. Well that wasn't reassuring.
Instead he anchored himself and Jason's eye's widened. Earthquake safety. Lay low on the ground away from debris until the shaking stopped. Or.. Attach yourself to the nearest rock based demi. Jason sure as hell knew he couldn't do anything with an earthquake and if the others were willing to help him out, that was their own fault. The boy lurched forwards, latching onto the group, doing his best not to fall off. He could still feel his teeth rattling in his skull, which was not conducive to a good thinking environment.
Amelia didn't know what to do when the ground began to shake. It was unstable. It was a miracle she was even standing. The black shadows were creeping up through the cracked ground and she was utterly terrified. The first thing that came tj her midn was that she beeded to hold onto something.
Unfortunately, the nearest thing to her was Jason and that is what she ended up clinging to, even as he moved towards the other people. Her grip was iron tight and there was no prying her off until she released him if her own free will.
Through the cracked ground and shadows, a body emerged. A woman appeared, skin so pale it looked like it had never seen sunlight. Her hair and eyes her black. Shadows where coming from her body. Nyx. It was the primordial goddess, Nyx. And she was angry. She raised a hand, pointing it at the five children. "Someone has taken my child." Her voice boomed. "If Hypnos is not returned to me in fourteen days, I will obliterate the world."
As the goddess slicked back into the earth, another figure appeared. A girl, Cassandra, their Oracle. Her eyes were black and her mouth opened but it wasn't her voice that cake out. It was someone else's. "Five shall answer the goddess' call
All are spawns of the gods of twelve
To the west they will haul
Into the rockies they themselves
Must go. To find the god
They so desire, into Echidna's cave they must seek.
The mother of monster you must prod
She must be the one to speak.
Listen closely, listen clawed,
Or you will never find your sleep."
Then the girl collapsed, and the world stopped shaking and shadow dissipated.
Reo looked over to Coral, speaking at the same time as Eric, “I have a condition-“ Only to be cut off by the ground starting to shake. He quickly spreads his feet, trying to get a more balanced position. He was already bleeding and he didn’t want another cut to have to pay attention to. He looked down at his arm quickly, the blood still flowing down it. Dripping to the dirt and leaving little drops of wetness behind.
He grunts softly when someone grabs onto him, pulling him closer and he looks at Eric, “Thanks.” He mutters, stabling him self again, shifting his balance with the shift earth beneath him. He watches as vines shoot from the ground and he tries to move away from them without jarring Eric’s grip. He didn’t want- the vines wrapped around his legs and he closed his eyes, hoping they wouldn’t squeeze- They were to tight and he stays still knowing the peppering of small bruises that would cover his legs later. And how long it would take before bed to treat them as well.
Then the goddess appeared and the thought about his bruises fled his mind, instead getting replaced with awe at seeing the goddess, and fear at what was going to happen. When she spoke, Reo listened adamantly and then blinks. Who wold take the goddesses child? Who was even stupid enough to do such a thing?
After the goddess, who Reo had identified a little too late, Nyx, vanished, replaced with the oracle. Re kept listening, though the pain in his legs was increasing slightly. Not that the grip of the vine was tightening, but the brushes were making his skin tender, leading to the pain. The prophecy seemed pretty obvious and simple, but sometimes, mosttimes, that was not the case.
He looks to Eric, “Uh. . . Thanks, but you can let go.” He looks to Coral, “And you too, please?” He didn’t really want to see the damage to his legs, but the sooner he looked at them and tended to them, the better off they would be.
When the goddess Nyx appeared, she looked at her in awe and in fear. At that very moment, she didn't know who she was, merely that she was an angry goddess who wanted her son back. Not even with the mention of Hypnos did her mind connect two with two. It wasn't until she disappeared and the Oracle took her place did she realize who she was, and what was happening.
Hypnos was missing. Kidnapped, most likely. And if he wasn't retrieved in two weeks, the world would end. But how did it all happen? Who would be foolish enough to kidnap the son of a primordial goddess? Who would be so foolish to mess with one of the most powerful beings in the world? Her mind was racing with so many thoughts that she almost missed the prophecy. She stayed still and quiet, as Casandra spoke, her eyes all black, and her voice completely different. The prophecy itself seemed simple enough, but she knew that was always never the case. It always seemed like the world itself was against you if you embarked on a mission with a prophecy.
When Cassandra finished and she collapsed, Coral just stared, wanting to go towards her, but at the same time, she didn't want to. Coral blinked and jumped a little at Reo's request. She nodded and made a motion with her hand, the vines loosening around everyone's legs, and then falling to the ground. "I'm so sorry, I should have asked first, but the ground was breaking apart and I was afraid that someone might be thrown." Her eyes glanced toward the cracked earth, from where Nyx had appeared. Somewhere to her right, lay her sword, which had fallen during the "earthquake" as she would call it. As she stared at the crack, Coral wondered if anyone else would come out of the earth. She hoped not.
Eric's eyes widened as he watched first Nyx herself, and then Cassandra the Oracle, speak dire tidings. Heavy stuff. He wasn't sure he caught everything, the poetic phrasing and the sheer craziness of the moment breaking his concentration. But from what it sounded like, the 5 of them were in a mess. A serious mess.
Why they should be responsible to see this Hypnos returned safely was beyond him, especially given that there were adults, or even just older demi-gods. Eric was 14. What could a prophecy possibly want with him?
The ground stopped shaking, and Reo asked him to let go. He did, as well as letting go of Coral.
He smiled down at Jason, who had grabbed onto him in the chaos. That was fine with him, since it meant everybody had come out ok. Mostly, anyway.
He un-anchored his legs, shaking the dirt off his boots, and looked around. Surely more people than just them had heard or seen or felt that.
Reo moves away from the group slightly, deciding that, at the moment, his life was more important than a prophecy. Especially if he was a part of said prophecy. He slowly sits down, pulling the leg of his pants up. He lets out a slow sigh as nothing appears. When he reaches his calf, he finally bites his lip. There was a bruise forming on the back of his leg. Nothing too serious, but still.
He sighs, looking up at Coral, “I have a condition called Hemophilia B. Meaning my blood doesn’t clot. . . Anyone have any spare cloth? I kinda need to stop the blood from this cut.” He motions to his arm, in which still had blood dripping from it.
(Sorry for the delay! Busy weekend!)
From the moment the ground had started shaking, Jason had assumed something less than ordinary was going on. They were at a camp for demi-gods, one of their teachers was a centaur. If this had just turned out to be a normal earthquake Jason would have been utterly shocked. Luckily for him though, he was rarely wrong and he watched with only a faintly surprised expression as a pissed looking goddess emerged from the earth, threatened the worlds safety and left their Oracle to spew out a vague prophecy before collapsing and the world returning to normal.
Jason made a faint 'huh' sound, blinking once or twice, his mind already turning the prophecy over and around. Sinking his teeth into it like a dog with a new toy. He'd always liked riddles, and now he got to pick one apart that was so important the fate of the world rested on it. Some of the background characters were speaking and Jason only acknowledged it to realize the vines had unwrapped from his legs, he'd be so pissed if it turned out the girl had summoned poison ivy in a panic instead of grape vines.
Still, he wasn't completely free, Jason looked at the boy who was only a bit younger than him, but was built like an actual brick. Jason was taller than him by maybe just an inch, but he felt dwarfed in comparison. He was almost certain his name was Eric. The newly remembered person smiled at him and Jason glared, freeing himself to walk a few paces away. Probably felt he was so heroic, when all he'd done was saved a few people from tumbling over. Asshole.
Jason walked away from the group, inspecting where the goddess had emerged from the ground. It was a pretty clean fissure all things considered. I wonder if she has to emerge from the ground because she lives in Hades, or it's all theatrics.. Jason thought. I'm pretty sure all the gods can teleport so- Eh. He could appreciate good showmanship, it was what separated the truly great from the ordinary. He also glanced at the collapsed oracle, but as she was still breathing Jason shrugged, she'd be fine.
He turned around, looking at the group of demi's for a moment.
"Forget your arm, we have bigger fish to fry." Jason made a show of pointing at each person, counting up, until he pointed at his own chest. "Five. Five shall answer the goddesses call? Just to make sure the slow among us are all caught up, we've just been given a prophecy. Personally, I think I'm a great choice, very excellent decision making on the gods part and that it is about damn time but-" Jason grimaced, making a waving motion at the group of kids, then a so-so hand motion. God he looked smug.
"I'm just wondering if we can trade a few in, is all. Don't get me wrong, two out of the four of you look useful, but we absolutely do not need the rest." He sighed, then chuckled wryly. "But I suppose there's no arguing with an immutable prophecy bound with the threads of fate?"
Jason had glared in response to Eric's smile, and the younger boy wasn't sure what to do with that. He hadn't expected to be showered in praise or anything, but he certainly hadn't expected anger as a response.
Still, Jason seemed surly in general, and Eric decided to try not to take it personally.
He glanced down at Reo, and though he didn't quite understand all the words in the explanation of the problem, he did know Reo needed to stop the bleeding. His t-shirt was short sleeved, but his shoulders were big enough that even a short sleeve was a decent amount of clothe for a wound that size. He reached up and tore his sleeve off with a yank, and handed it to Reo wordlessly.
Jason was talking again, spouting what seemed like more meanness, and Eric just watched him. The nerdy looking son of Athena obviously thought he was hot stuff, and while that might be true…
Well. Eric had trapped him easily in an earth dome not 10 minutes ago. Couldn't be that impressive.
He glanced at Amelia. She, on the other hand, was pretty, and Eric was the type to lose his heart quickly. She seemed ok, if any of them were really ok, and there was nothing he could do to help if she wasn't She didn't really know him at all, and he was sure the age gap would have her looking down her nose at him.
He looked over at Coral, who seemed to be processing things ok. "Puedes ayudarla?" He nodded towards Cassandra, who was still collapsed on the ground. "Puedo llevarla a su lugar, pero no se como ayudarla antes de llegarnos a la enfermeria."
Amelia was panting heavy, having realized her hold on Jason as soon as the goddess appeared. She looked down at ger hands, noting they were shaking. She was trembling. She never trembled. She reached her hands up to smooth back her hair, trying to occupy her hands. Jason was spouting off words in front of them but she tuned that out. It didn't take a genius to figure out what he was saying. He was self righteous and thought he was better than everyone else. Had she not been terrified, Amelia would have punched him.
Gaining her thought, she looked around, her eyes falling on Cassandra. Their poor Oracle. Swallowing and pushing her fear away, she was running over to the girl's side. With a gentle shake, the other girl was gasping and sitting up. Amelia sat back on her heels, face scrunched up. "Are you okay?" She asked.
Cassandra pushed back her hair that had fallen into her face. She was looking around at everyone, wide eyed. "How did I get here?" She never remembered anything after a prophecy. It was very annoying, especially when she ended up in situations like this. She looked down at her body, making sure she didn't hurt herself this time, and found she was okay. She was a little covered in leaves and dirt but that was easier to deal with than a wound or broken bones.
Cassandra opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by the thundering sounds of hooves approaching them. Chiron was here, and he had an angry expression on his face. But whether it was at them or something else, they couldn't tell. "You five," he pointed at them all, skipping over Cass, "The big house, now. Cassandra, go to the infirmary tent to get checked out." Then Chiron was galloping away.
Coral stared at Jason as he spewed out nonsense. She tried to tune out what he was saying, because honestly? It wasn't anything important. All he was saying were things she had heard before, and if Jason was supposed to be one of the five who went on this quest, then she was sure they'd hear him say the same thing over and over again. God, she couldn't stand that smug face of his and she yearned to punch him. And she probably would have done so if Eric hadn't spoken. As she listened to what Eric was telling her, she wondered how exactly was she supposed to help. She wasn't a healer….but perhaps she could help with a few words of encouragement?
With a nod, she started walking toward Cassandra, and when Amelia ran over to the Oracle, she just followed. She kneeled down on the ground, watching the conversation between Amelia and Cassandra. When Casandra asked how she got there, she opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by the sound of thundering hooves nearing them. If she didn't know any better, she would have said that that was a herd of centaurs….would they even be called a herd? With a shake of her head, she turned to see Chiron looking at them with an angry expression on his face and Coral frowned. Was he angry at them? Surely not, as they hadn't done anything. Yet. He told them, no he commanded them to report to the Big House, and then as quickly as he arrived, he disappeared.
"Well hello to you too, Chiron," Coral mumbled under her breath as he galloped away. She then turned to Cass. "You came out of the earth," she responded, answering the Oracle's question. "At least, I think you did. Things happened way too fast for me to catch everything."
Reo glares at Jason. Reo could normally get over someome being rude to him, but the boy was being rude to everyone. “Oh, shut your pothole, idiot.” He smiles in thanks at Eric and takes the scrap of cloth. “What kind of son of Athena are you if you can’t recognize that I’ve had the cut for almost fifteen minutes, and it still hasn’t cloted one bit? Maybe you’re not as smart as you’d like to think.”
Reo was normally soft spoken, but this was one of the rare moments he showed tru agitation. And though he was agitated, his voice was still barely a whisper, “And Eric was just helping. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think anyone wants to get thrown around by a godly force. And in the place, you could easily end up with a broken neck if you hit the wrong rock at the wrong angle.”
“Maybe we should trade you in, Jason. That seems like the better choice.” He presses the cloth to his arm, watching as the blood slowly seeped into the fabric. He looked at his arm and sighs, walking over to the river and dipping hit arm in it quickly, wiping off the drying blood.
Reo goes silent, going back to his own shell of silence and watching everything around them. He watches Chiron, and then looks to Cass, concerned, but not too worried for her.
Jason's expression went from annoyed to one of genuine disgust. He was fine with people tuning him out, gods know he was used to it, and he even liked it when they'd shoot back with a reply, usually something biting if they were even moderately clever. But when all the other person could muster was "idiot" and "no, you" or "why are you mean :(", it was a waste of everyone's time, most importantly his time. He gave Reo a look of slightly disgusted pity, shaking his head, must be hard, not only was he useless in the physical department, looked like he was lacking anything unique upstairs as well. He almost felt bad.
Chiron arrived, telling them to go where they would have anyways then left, leaving a group of children and an injured Oracle alone in the woods again. Maybe he was going to gather the rest of the kids, still engaged in capture the flag if the earthquake hadn't thrown everyone off. This was Camp Half-Blood, if there wasn't something wrong every week the kids would start to get antsy. Jason walked over to the flags, pulling out his dagger and taking strips of both blue and red. He shoved them in his pocket, ignoring… Whatever it was that was going on with Cassandra.
"The Oracle has legs, she can walk." The fall could have concussed the girl if she'd hit her head though, but she didn't seem to be confused or dizzy. He dismissed the thought, not his concern.
He clapped his hands together, his smug-ass grin back to being permanently plastered on his face. "You heard the centaur. La casa grande for our spanish speakers." Oh he was just asking to get hit now. The bruise on his nose was already darkening, he'd been planning on getting ice back at camp, maybe he could steal some from the fridge while they did prophecy "stuff".
Eric watched Amelia and Coral check on Cassandra. She seemed shaken, but ok.
He felt Chiron running their direction through the dirt before his hooves could be heard, and thus wasn't surprised when the centaur came bursting into the clearing, barking orders.
Eric moved to obey, though he wasn't mindless about it. He walked over to the girls, and offered Cassandra a hand. He helped her stand, and began walking back towards camp with her, staying close enough to help her if something went wrong. Everybody else could come with, or head straight up to the house, it didn't matter to him, but he was going to make sure she got where she needed to be.
He could hear Reo jawing at Jason behind him, and at some point, Jason clapped and continued his arrogant pontificating, but Eric was already gone.
They got back to the camp, and Eric escorted Cassandra to the infirmary, making sure she'd sat down on a bed's edge, before heading up to the house. He'd spend the walk wondering how on earth this was going to work. Surely they couldn't be the 5 from the prophecy…
Reo was… not going to be helpful. A constant need for protection from even the smallest cut or bruise, and no discernible powers… Eric was already thinking of all the ways that could go wrong. They would be slowed down, and he didn't seem to add much.
Amelia was pretty, but… he didn't know if she had any real power either, and that just seemed like a distraction. A pretty girl with nothing else to offer just… didn't seem like the kind of person you sent on a serious mission like this.
And Jason… he was going to be worse than dead weight. The mouthy, antagonistic boy was going to be harmful to the overall situation. Unity was important, and so was teamwork, and his arrogance was going to make both of those things difficult.
Eric didn't even like the idea of himself on such a mission. Sure, he had some level of power, but he was young, and there were other, more powerful people at the Camp. People with far more experience with this kind of mission, who could do much better work.
Coral was the only one who seemed well suited to it, between her powers and her personality, but… she was just one person, and hadn't shown much interest in much of anything, really, so… Eric couldn't be sure she would even agree to go.
So as he walked into the big house, he had no clue what was about to go down in this meeting.
The two girls both looked offset by Chiron and his words. He was not prone to anger, well, at least not towards the campers. So he fact that he looked furious made Amelia nervous. She was scared he was angry at them when they had done nothing wrong. Well, Jason desvered that anger for how rude he was being but the rest of them didn't. She helped Cassandra to her feet, actually offering a kind smile to the boy that cane over to help them. Eric, she believed was his name. He was new and she had yet to get a vibe from him. But she knew he was a child of Hephaestus and was automatically wary of him. The two cabins were not the friendliest of one another, this steming back to their godly parents.
She kept both hands on Cassandra's arm as she helped her walk back into camp. She only let go as they came to a split in the road. The infirmary to the left and the Big House on the right. Thankfully, the infirmary wasn't a long walk and Cassandra made it there just fine. The others continued to trudge their way towards the Big House.
Amelia was debating saying something to Jason to try to shut him up. Sje knew very well that she herself wasn't much better than he was but even she was still better. While she could come off as rude and standoffish, and she didn't always watch what she was saying, even she knew when to keep her mouth quiet. But she knew it wasn't worth the argument. Case in point, she was better than him.
Coral spent the walk to the Big House thinking. Mostly about Nyx and her prophecy, as well as Chiron's anger. But there was also a part of her that wondered who had won, indeed, if the game had been completed at all. She didn't know if the fake earthquake had affected the entirety of the camp, though she suspected that it did. Rarely did she care about the result of a game such as Capture the Flag, but she hoped that Malcolm had managed to bring back both flags to their base. She stopped slightly at the split in the road, watching as Cassandra made her way to the infirmary. She could only hope that the oracle hadn't been injured. To her, she seemed physically fine, but one never knew with injuries.
With a sigh, she continued to follow the rest of the group into the Big House. Jason still hadn't shut up, and to be quite honest, he was starting to get on her nerves. Though, if Coral said anything to him, there was the chance that she would somehow make things worse, and the Athena boy would become more annoying…if it was even possible for him to become more annoying than he already was. And after what seemed like hours to her, they finally made it to the Big House. She had a feeling that this meeting, or whatever they were going to have, was not something she was going to like. I just hope Dad isn't with Chiron, she muses as she enters the house.