Everyone was congregating which was a nice sight to see because that meant this camp would be lively. His mother explained it as an isolated place because of the lack of children — demigods. When Nelly brought up the architecture, he looked around, and a gentle expression on his face formed. It was definitely a camp-style architecture, ‘I think it is lovely,’ he informed her. This was the truth, he wasn’t trying to be nice at all, but he found the overall aesthetic of cabins appeasing for some odd reason.

‘I’ve heard, my mother explained that a lot had happened, so I was honestly shocked when I came into what is here. I thought it would be worse off,’ he chuckled while rubbing the back of his neck. ‘Gods must not keep up-to-date with everything.’ That was something he found humorous.

Hearing that she was allergic to peanuts, he seemed to tense up, ‘I’m sorry,’ he quickly started putting the bags back into his backpack so there was no chance of peanut-or-nut products connecting her. ‘You got to meet your father over a peanut allergy? That sounds a bit traumatic,’ Elysium glanced up at the woman as he was zipping his bag up. ‘At least nothing terrible happened,’ he added on since she was standing here.

Then another woman stood up, the one he was originally walking towards, but that’s because she was near the building he was going to — the one that he felt like he would get some answers for. Once Andy was done with her speech, he waved at her. He appreciated that little announcement because he could go get settled in his cabin and then adventure around the camp.

Elysium left his bag on the ground as he moved over and grabbed a map before coming back to Nelly, ‘I would love that,’ he responded with a smile. ‘So the cabins update into what you want when you choose them? That’s pretty amazing,” it was impressive to him. Looking at the map and where all the unoccupied cabins were, he pressed one, ‘There, I picked one,” he waved the map in his hand.

‘Oh, yeah,’ Elysium folded the map and put it into his back pocket. He opened up his backpack once again and pulled out the kale chips. ‘I promise, there was no cross contamination and there are no nuts in this one. So you should be safe to eat the whole bag if you want to,’ he handed her the bag of kale chips. ‘Also, they have a somewhat powerful garlic flavor but in a good way. At least I think so,’ he was warning her about the garlic flavor because he knew not everyone enjoyed garlic.

Anatoliy’s face scrunched up with confusion when she referred to IP as a rat and he glanced at his shirt pocket. ‘No, no,’ he began and looked up at her, down at the pocket, and up again. ‘Ip is a vole,’ he corrected her without judgement or harshness. There was an understanding on why someone would think Ip, the vole, was a rat especially if they were not familiar with the gigantic order of Rodentia. ‘They are nicknamed the meadow mouse too though they are not a mouse,’ he continued to explain that he was trying to remind himself not to talk too much.

She wasn’t the type of girl that seemed interested in learning about animals at all. Then it hit him — She thinks you're crazy… — and that caused his shoulders to lower with a bit of defeat. You were talking to a vole, why would she think you are anything else? All the years of having to hide his abilities and being called weird for talking to animals made him realize that even if he was surrounded by other demigods — they won’t understand.

He barely shook his head in the negative, ‘You can just call me Anatoliy if you want or Ana,’ he offered. The man almost made the comment that she could call him anything she wanted as long as it was not late for dinner — something stupid — but he controlled himself. A part of him wanted to disappear in this moment, it wasn’t like he was socially awkward or not confident, but he was overly stressed because of this whole ordeal. And he could feel his blood pressure rising the longer he stood in front of this woman. He knew she wasn’t being judgemental at all but for some reason he was feeling like he was getting judged or misunderstood.

Lucky you.

That was a simple statement that got him to stare at Anissa. He wasn’t sure if she was being dismissive, uncaring, or not interested. It felt like they were instantly distanced thousands of miles away from each other but they stood about five or so feet from each other. It made him go quiet and he could hear the other woman speaking – something about the camp and what not. And he couldn’t pay attention to her nor could he really pay attention to the person in front of him.

Anatoliy felt that heaviness behind his eyes, the kind that one gets before tears start whelming up, and he closed his eyes to try and self regulate his emotions. Everything was stressful for him right now. It’s fine. Everything is fine, he tried talking himself into being okay when his hands lifted up and he placed his face into them. He just needed a minute of darkness. Alone. He needed to get his blood pressure back down. There was no reason he should be this stressed out but he was.

Letting his hands fall away when he heard the woman talking, he forced a half-genuine smile, ‘It was…’ he stopped while watching her move away and he realized he didn’t get her name at all. ‘...nice to meet you.’ Anatoliy felt so out of it because of that interaction. It didn’t help that he put himself on edge because of everyone else but he wanted to curl up somewhere and hide.

Anatoliy wanted for a few minutes so no one was around him before he decided to go into the camp — it was out of purely wanting somewhere to be alone that wasn’t the cold forest — and he walked up to where the speaker was, Andy, and saw the maps. Grabbing one, he didn’t really decide, but his thumb caressed a cabin on the map, and that seemed to lock in his choice.

Staring at it for a few seconds, a part of him wanted to scream, since he didn’t mean to press that one, but he knew there was no reason to complain. It’s not like the other locations were much different so Anatoliy looked around the area, figured out the buildings, and set out to find his cabin so he could be alone. 'You are an absolute idiot. You could have been more pleasant and asked for her name. Now she just thinks you're a weird dude that talks to rats and it's not even a rat. It's a vole... and his name is Ip,' Anatoliy was talking to himself as he got away from the group and more near his cabin.

Muttering to himself might have made him look insane to anyone that was around but it helped him in many ways — self regulating emotions, vocally hearing himself, being able to think over everything, and allowing him to process the situation. It was a trick that his dad taught him. He should have been more social with the girl, she approached him, and he clammed up. ‘You could have been better at interacting with her…’ he muttered to himself with an unpleasantness that reflected someone not getting into the top three at a sporting event.

That was when he got to the edge of the property that he accidentally chose and his eyes raised to look at the building. It was morphing into something as he stood there and he watched with a confused wonder. If he was nine years old, this would be amazing, but he found something in him that didn’t allow him to be excited — a hotness flooded his face and he could feel the salty tears rolling down his cheeks. ‘Fuck me…’ he let out the words with a strange breath as he was trying to regulate his emotions.

Anatoliy used the back of his sleeve to press it into his eyes to dry his tears. Trying his best to not rub at his face and rash out his cheeks. He decided to proceed forward, he pushed himself to continue forward to his cabin as it settled, and it was an impressive cabin. It was hard to truly cherish it at this moment. He felt guilty about that. Yet, he had never seen one like it and it was something from his dreams. ‘Are you okay?’ the little squeaking of Ip could be heard as he popped his head out of Anatoliy’s pocket.

The man glanced down to the little rodent and wailfully smiled, ‘Yeah…’ he let out a shaky breath. ‘I’m fine. This is just a lot to take in,” he was trying to downplay his emotions, the experience that he was having, and attempting to lessen the burden being spread to anyone else. No one needed to hear about his problems and Ip wouldn’t understand — he was a vole. Human-things didn’t make sense to him. And this whole situation was overwhelming for him, he had been emotionally and mentally conflicted since his mother appeared to him, and it was just catching up with him now.

‘Did you want to stay outside or would you like to come inside?” Anatoliy asked while he began to ascend the steps.

‘I do not know,’ Ip responded while poking his head out of Anatoliy’s pocket.

This allowed Anatoliy to continue up the stairs until he got to the first platform and he stood there taking it in. ‘That’s so cool,’ he smiled with some excitement. The first platform had a hanging swing bed. It looked comfortable but it was cold out. Plus, he wanted to take a warm shower, get something in his system, take a nap, and try his best to be himself at the party that was happening tonight. The party sounded fun but how everyone seemed to be made him nervous to even attend it. It would be a great ice breaker but how difficult would it be to break the ice with everyone?

Shower first. Worries later.

That was when Anatoliy got to the highest platform and found the door. Opening it. He looked around in shock since this was something from his dreams. It reminded him of the hunting cabin that his father would take him to every deer and bird season they attended. Tears began to flow down his cheeks and he began to rub at his face to attempt to dry it and that began to cause friction. Stepping into the area and closing the door, he locked it behind him, and he walked into the middle of the room.

Anatoliy tried his best to hold in his emotions, he gently took Ip out of his pocket, and set him on the floor. ‘You should be safe to wander. I don’t think anything will happen to you here,’ he explained while going over to the kitchenette to find what he was looking for. Grabbing a carrot and a small bowl to fill with water. He put them down on the ground and Ip scurried right over to sniff them out. ‘Oh! Thank you, thank you!’ he sounded excited as he started nibbling on the carrot. Anatoliy crouched down to pet him before standing up.

‘I am going to go take a shower, I think the shower is in that small area with the firepit over it,’ he informed his little furry roommate before putting his backpack down and looking around the area a bit more. After he was done searching the area for the most part, Anatoliy headed back outside, and went to check out the small building under the fire and sitting area.

Going to the building and finding the door, he opened it, and he was right. That was the shower area, and he closed the door behind him and found that there were products, towels, and even clothes in this area which he thought was weird. However, he just watched a cabin form from something in his dreams… he couldn’t be terribly surprised at this point. Could he?

Anatoliy closed the door behind him and turned the shower on. Flicking it on hot and steam clouded the room instantly from all the cold area that he let in and all the hot coming from the shower head. Stripping off all his clothes and stepping in, his whole body tensed from the temperature difference, ‘Ahhh~!’ his body jittered from the difference as his hands balled up before his body began to familiarize with the temperature. Setting his forehead against the white concrete brick walls, he closed his eyes, and he let the water pour over his body. It helped so much to stand there and begin to unwind and relax.

By the time he got back up to the living area of his cabin, he closed the door, locked it, and walked right over to his bed and flopped onto it. Everything was soft and comfortable. Faux fur blankets and heavy fluffed comforters that were wool. He melted into it and rubbed his face into the materials with a slight enjoyment. ‘This feels so nice,’ he purred out those words before climbing into bed and under the blankets. Getting comfortable and warm as he pulled the blankets up over his head. Lying on his stomach, his head under the pillows, and wishing he could fall asleep, but his mind kept going to everything else.

Maybe if he saw that girl at the party later, he would apologize, and try to have a proper conversation with her if she wasn’t too upset with him.

Would dad want him to come here? Should he have come here?

Was this going to be school all over again and was he not going to make any friends? Would there be people that finally understood him? That could understand him even a little bit? He would be thankful for that.

Did he have to attend the party? What if he wasn’t in the mood for it? What if he didn’t want to see all the new faces and force himself to smile? What if he couldn’t force himself to smile tonight? Anatoliy could feel warm tears whelming in his eyes before they started to soak his eyelashes and he stuffed his face into the bedding below him. He could feel how the sheets under him soaked up his tears and he began to cry hard. He didn’t know how long he cried or how hard but he ended up drifting off into sleep. Crashing out. His body needed to decompress from everything that was happening.

‘Yesterday?’ That seemed to surprise Elysium. His mother made it sound like everything happened months and months ago. It was most likely up to miscommunication, but he felt like everything happened and was done months ago from his mothers descriptions. ‘And a half brother?’ This got his curiosity too but it sounded like the man was long gone — back to college. ‘That would have been cool to meet him.’

Elysium had more details than some people but definitely not all the details like the individuals who had experienced the tragedy in camps. Thankfully, his mom was willing to talk to him about most things. He didn’t know why her words twisted his insides… but they did. She got to be raised and around her godly parents since she was young. Why did others not care to be a part of their kids' lives? ‘I’m glad that you have an EpiPen and I’ll make sure to use less nuts in things that I make,” he didn’t want to be the reason she had to use the EpiPen.

‘I know that Greek dishes don’t rely heavily on seasoning but I thought they used garlic quite a bit,’ that seemed to be a common ingredient when he was cooking Greek food though it could have been changed up for one reason or another — people including garlic in a recipe that originally had none and posting it online.

Elysium gently smiled, ‘Maybe I’ll end up getting neighbors. Who are those three?” he was curious about everyone. Wanting to meet everyone that he could. ‘Also, I don’t really think about where people come from to be honest. I wouldn’t assume anyone is from one specific place,” the man never thought too much of where someone has come from or not. He had friends in boarding school and stuff that would ask people if they were American or African or whatever based on their accents or other characteristics — most of the time, they were wrong.

‘I thought the spot looked pretty on the map,’ he was happy to hear that he was around nature, water, and kind of secluded even though he hoped to get neighbors near him. As they made it to his cabin, he stood there at the entrance point. Looking at the architecture outside of the building and admiring it. ‘This is pretty,’ he whispered under his breath.

Then he thought about it, ‘A little big for one person…’ it was big for one person which didn’t make sense unless he was going to have cabin mates. Was that how this worked here? Was he going to end up getting roommates? He wasn’t against the idea at all.

Opening up the door, he entered the entry room and looked around, taking off his shoes, and setting down his backpack. Elysium entered the house even more and he saw the massive stone fireplace and was in awe. ‘That is amazing,’ he entered the living room and was looking around the place.