River cleared his throat and pointed to the right of the arena. "We might be able to circle back around that way," he said with uncertainty in his voice. He didn’t get one of the maps and barely looked at his sister’s, but that made the most sense. If they somehow ended up in a dead end they could always turn around and follow their footsteps back. Right? It wasn’t rocket science.
“Now, now River, ‘Might be able’ is not the kind of leadership that inspires confidence,” Anissa said just before they stepped off the main trail and in the direction he’d indicated. Her boots crunched lightly in the snow as she fell into step beside him. “If we get lost, by the way, I’m putting that on your performance review.”
"Performance review?" he echoed with an arched brow. "Had I known I was going to be graded I would have been on my best behavior, and not fraternizing with my subordinates," he added with a teasing seriousness in his voice. River stayed facing forward, but snuck a few sideways glances to gauge her reaction. It was rare he tried joking around. Normally he was the target of teasing, but never the teaser? He broke the silence with a little chuckle.
Thinking on the prospect of being the new camp leader and the concept of ‘performance reviews’ made him wonder what was expected of him. While River didn’t actually expect there to be any sort of review, he would still be susceptible to the judgements of his peers and the Gods. With the basis of Poseidon’s training, he imagined he’d score favorably with the Gods but detested amongst his fellow demigods. Would he be able to retain any friends? Would Anissa still want to spend time with him once he stepped into the role? If he upset her, could he fix it? "Is extra credit on the table?" he asked, letting his concerns slip out before he had the forethought to keep it to himself. He looked over at her with a pensive lopsided smile, hoping to play it off as nothing more than more teasing.
“Mmm… depends.” Anissa replied.“Something tells me you’re a hands-on learning kinda guy, so let’s just say you’ll owe me later, ok?” She flashed him a sly half-smile before turning her eyes forward again.
The area enveloped them in a hushed tranquillity as they walked, snowflakes drifting lazily between the branches of pine trees beside them like nature's own confetti. Anissa found herself relaxing into it while stealing occasional glances at her companion’s profile once more. But mostly she let her gaze wander across their surroundings, drinking in the beauty of the snow-dusted landscape.
As they passed clusters of cabins, each dwelling seemed to hold fragments of its occupant's personality. One boasted cheerful strings of lights while another displayed wind chimes that tinkled softly in the breeze. Another had a pair of muddy boots abandoned carelessly on porch steps, but quite a few had strange symbols carved into their door frames. Greek, perhaps, though it was hard to make them out in the growing dark. Still, something told Anissa that these weren't just buildings; they were living extensions of the demigods who inhabited them, much like her own had when it came to her bedroom’s design.
Rather than voice her observations, Anissa found herself nudging River's arm again, the gesture becoming their unspoken language.
“Tell me something no one else knows about you,” she demanded, her tone dancing between challenge and intrigue. “Something that would make your divine relatives clutch their pearls. Assuming, of course, that sea gods even wear pearls.”
River’s gaze fell to his arm where she, once again, bumped his arm. His hand raised, subconsciously reaching for his arm where she touched him. Curiosity flashed across his face before his expression softened into a foreign contentment. His thumb lightly ran along the skin almost in disbelief. A strange and unfamiliar tingling settled in the pit of his stomach causing the hair on the back of his neck to stand on end. She had nudged him twice now. Why was he keeping track? And when did he start staring at her?
Shit. She asked him a question.
He cleared his throat trying to snap himself out of whatever trance had taken hold of him. "I’m pretty much an open book," River admitted. "Let me think."
Did he have any secrets? River had lived a relatively boring life before camp that there was little to nothing of interest about him or his life. He didn’t really have secrets. If anything people just never asked him the right questions so it never came up in conversation. But it wasn’t like he was hiding it or ashamed of it. The only thing that came to mind was that he was a virgin… And he had never been kissed. But he was definitely not telling Anissa that. Nope. No way. He had to think of something else.
"I—" he began, dragging it out, as the final thoughts came together and he tried to decide what to share. "—am scared of heights, and my favorite color is purple." River glanced over at Anissa with an innocent smile and a shrug. It wasn’t juicy or scandalous and definitely wouldn’t make the Gods clutch their pearls, but it was the truth. And, to the best of his knowledge, no one knew that about him… Because no one cared to ask.
The snowflakes catching in the girl’s lashes seemed to pause mid-fall as she blinked at him with exaggerated slowness. "Wait. Heights?" she repeated, her voice climbing an octave as disbelief and levity warred for dominance in her tone.
There’s no way he was seriously afraid of heights, right? Sure, it wasn’t the pearl-clutching secret she’d expected, but….
Her gaze travelled up his tall frame from his feet all the way to where she had to tilt her head back to meet his eyes. "So what you're saying is..." she continued, pressing her lips together to suppress a growing smile, "...you live in a constant state of fear."
She shook her head, the motion sending a few snowflakes tumbling from the brim of her beret. "You poor thing," she cooed with mock sympathy, reaching up to pat his shoulder (or more like his arm because of the significant height difference). "The air must be so thin up there." The teasing came as naturally as breathing. There was something endlessly entertaining about how easily he handed her ammunition, how someone so physically imposing could reveal such human vulnerabilities.
River rolled his eyes, bobbing his head from side to side in a mocking manner. He gave her a little sassy side eye with raised brows as she patted his arm in fake sympathies. "You know," he said as he turned slightly to face her. "6’ 1” isn’t actually that tall. You’re just short," he added, leaning down to whisper next to her ear like it was a secret. Her darkness stood out like a black bird in a snowstorm as they walked through the picturesque winter wonderland. He focused on the snowflakes in her lashes slowly melting into glistening water droplets that made her dark eyes twinkle in their own mischievous way.
Anissa’s breath hitched as River unexpectedly closed the distance between them, his sudden nearness freezing her mid-step. His whisper brushed against the curve of her ear, warm, intimate, and startlingly out of place. She could smell the clean scent of his damp hair mixed with winter pine, an unsettlingly pleasant combination that momentarily scrambled her thoughts.
Yet, out of pure instinct, her defences slammed back into place.
Anissa forced her shoulders to relax, sculpting her features into an expression of amused indifference as she arched one perfectly shaped eyebrow. Her eyes, however, held a bit of something wilder—a trapped-bird flutter of panic she ruthlessly suppressed. She reached out to cover it, her gloved fingers brushing imaginary snow from his shoulder. The physical contact was brief but a calming touch as much as a diversion.
"Oh, please," she shot back, flicking a stray snowflake off his shoulder. "Tell that to every doorframe you've ever smacked your forehead into." She took a subtle half-step back as she said this, reclaiming her personal space, though the phantom warmth of his breath near her ear still lingered like a ghost’s touch.
"Hmm," he mused with a faint hint of a smirk. His head instinctually turned to her gloved hand as she dusted his shoulder. Was that three times now? Why was he counting? River had to pry his gaze away from her eyes, deep brown like fresh brewed coffee, warm and comforting on a chilly morning. It was only when her hand fell that he slowly stood back upright.
"I was being serious," he said trying to continue the conversation on from whatever the hell he was just doing. "When I was 12 this huge swell came to our island. I had been surfing all day but then this massive wave came. I had to ride it." River’s hands moved and emphasized his words as he spoke. "But once I was on the crest, everything felt like it was spinning. I blacked out." He spared a quick glance over at Anissa before continuing. "When I woke up I was on the beach. My mom and Ocean were freaking out." He shook his head recalling how frantic they were, insisting he didn’t move and calling for an ambulance. Everything was fine, but they wouldn’t let up for weeks. "I probably would have died if I wasn’t Poseidon’s kid. The undertow can be pretty rough."
While surfing remained a foreign concept, the intimate dance with death? That language Anissa spoke fluently. A vivid, unwelcome image flashed behind her eyes: the terrifying crest of dark water, the stomach-lurching plunge, the suffocating blackness closing over the boy beside her. She’d never felt saltwater drag her down, but she’d stood on death’s doorstep countless times. Not her own physical demise either, but the chilling premonitions of others’ ends that haunted her like clockwork.
These visions arrived uninvited, carried on strange sensations. She’d felt death in the sudden, inexplicable wilting of fresh lilies held moments before. She’d sensed it in intangible aches – sharp pains mimicking broken ribs flaring across her torso with no injury. Most disturbing was the taste, however, an acrid, metallic bitterness coating her tongue out of nowhere, a foul prelude to loss. Death didn’t always announce itself with violence. Often, it was a soundless thief, slipping in on sighs of unfinished conversations, leaving behind only the cold residue of regret and the residual presence of the departed who sometimes visited her restless mind.
Specific faces appeared in her memory now. A girl with wind-chime laughter and a dark bruise on her wrist that no one questioned. A boy whose handshake during a brief encounter had felt like gripping ice, sending a shudder of absolute certainty through her. An old man in a sun-drenched café, smiling at her with serene, knowing eyes that seemed to understand his own imminent end. None of them had known their fate was sealed. But she had. She’d felt the oppressive weight of it, sensed the grim silhouette of their approaching final moments, a knowledge that was useless to her because there was nothing she could do to prevent it. No matter how hard she tried.
There was no escape from the inevitable. There was no escape from death.
Perhaps that was why River’s story resonated differently, profoundly. This wasn’t a detached, sensed premonition. This was a lived experience recounted firsthand. He had stood where her visions ended, looked into the abyss, and clawed his way back. The reality of his survival captivated her, yet it also ignited a cold spark of fear deep within her.
“That’s... kind of terrifying,” Anissa finally murmured, unable to keep the honesty from her voice. “I mean, godly blood or not, no one really escapes it, you know? Not forever. Son of Poseidon or not, your family had every right to freak out.”
She finally glanced sideways at him, snowflakes stubbornly clinging to her dark lashes like tiny stars drawn to her inherent shadow. “People always act like death is loud,” she continued, her voice dropping lower, almost swallowed by the crunching snow. “It’s not. It’s quiet. Creeps up when you think you’re safe.” She gave a half-shrug, trying to shake the weight of her own words. Her eyes met his again, serious this time. “So yeah. You were lucky. Really lucky.” The word ‘lucky’ felt inadequate, but it was the only one that encompassed the sheer, improbable defiance of his survival against the creeping finality she knew so well.
"Yeah, well…" he said with a sigh, looking off at the snow covered trees before them. River wasn’t sure what else to say. He nodded his head and pressed the thumb of his right hand into the palm of his left. It was nothing he hadn’t heard before, about being lucky. He didn’t feel lucky. His black out felt little more than falling asleep and then he was awake. There was no pain, no bright white light. Just… a void, nothing. It’d make more sense for him to be scared of death after the whole ordeal, but that was the calmest party. It was calm and serene, like returning home. If anything, the fact he was so comfortable with it was the scarier part.
His brows furrowed as he clung to her words. Anissa spoke like someone who was very familiar with death. Her perspective was unique and intimate. Had she experienced a lot of death in her life? Loss of family members or loved ones? Or was she a macabre sort of girl who found things like death and the afterlife fascinating? No. It couldn’t be a fascination. The way she spoke was like someone who accepted death's inevitability. She spoke about it with respect and reverence, not awe.
“Purple, though?” Anissa added after some time, getting back to a lighter topic. “Unexpected. But… very good choice. Mine’s lilac, if you’re wondering which I know you are.”
River’s brows raised curiously as he glanced over at her with a small grin. So, also purple? Light purple, if he remembered correctly. Guys never knew the intricacies of colors. There was red, blue, green, purple, etc. None of this teal or chartreuse bull. You might as well be speaking Mandarin to him or something because those words meant nothing to him. It was an interesting coincidence though. Another thing to add to the weird bucket of similarities and vibes that they seemed to be collecting.
"Your turn," River posed the same question, with a gentle little nudge of his own.
Anissa hesitated, chewing the inside of her cheek as if trying to decide how much of herself she was actually willing to hand over.
"Alright," she began, voice uncharacteristically measured. "Something no one knows… except you now." A brief pause as her gaze lifted to the snow-laden branches above, watching the flakes spiral downward like tiny ghosts. The moment of hesitation stretched just long enough to be noticeable before she continued.
"I came here because of a letter." Her throat worked around the admission. "There was no name and no return address. Just... instructions and a gut feeling I decided to trust." She shrugged one shoulder like it was nothing, like it hadn’t kept her up for a few nights straight before she decided to follow it.
“I’ve never met my dad, and my mom…she’s great, but she doesn’t know anything about any of this.” She let the admission hang for a moment, and then, as if startled by her own honesty, Anissa stopped in her tracks.
This was a lot more truth than she'd offered anyone in years, and the realization sent a jolt of panic through her veins.
Instinct took over, her defences snapping back into place as she shook her head to clear it, beginning to walk again. “So I’m probably a daughter of Athena or something, if I had to guess,” she blurted, the words tumbling out in a rush. "Like maybe I have two moms, you know?" The forced lightness in her tone rang empty even to her own ears. Then, seizing on the first ridiculous tangent her racing mind could conjure: "Wait a second, do Gods even have sex? Like, in a normal way? Or is it all lightning bolts and flower metaphors and suddenly boom demigod baby."
Her wide-eyed stare fixed on River, the perfect picture of innocence. "I need to know what we're working with here." The abrupt subject change was clumsy at best, but she clung to it, desperate to steer the conversation away from dangerous emotional waters and back into the territory of teasing they had before.
River’s pace slowed as he watched Anissa’s demeanor shift when he posed the same question to her. He wasn’t sure what he expected in response, probably a similar answer sharing a fear or some other random fact about herself that wasn’t super personal. But instead he was surprised to learn that didn’t have a clue who her God-parent was. They really were pieces of shit, weren’t they? He had assumed that everyone was told at some point, minimally right before coming to camp. But the fact that she and her mother hadn’t a clue was… cruel.
There were a couple times River parted his lips to say something, but let Anissa continue her rambling. He was not the best at reading people, but he could tell the topic or, perhaps, the confession made her anxious. He let her get it all out of her system, even chuckling at the interesting shift in conversation. When there was a pause, he looked down at her. His hand awkwardly flexed like he wanted to… comfort her in some way, but he also didn’t want to overstep. "I don’t want to get smited on my first day at camp, so I won’t say it again," he said, referencing his earlier comment about the Gods being dicks. "But that sucks, I’m sorry. And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone," he added, in case she needed the reassurance of his secrecy. "Keep your eyes peeled. If you see someone with abilities like yours then it’s probably a safe bet."
Anissa’s mouth twisted at his words—that sucks, I’m sorry—and for a second, it looked like she might deflect again. But instead, she just gave a small nod.
He didn’t have the best relationship with his father, but River couldn’t begin to imagine what it was like not knowing. Hell, he couldn’t imagine not knowing sooner. Once powers started manifesting, Poseidon showed up. There wasn’t much time where he was left to feel like he was odd or crazy for having strange abilities he couldn’t explain. He got his answers, and his father’s expectations thrust upon him as a young teen. He still didn’t feel normal, but he was never left in the dark.
River wasn’t going to dwell on the conversation she was eager to move on from. He said his piece. He wasn’t going to pry or force her to elaborate on it. He took a second to ponder her question about the Gods and sex. He thought he recalled various tales in mythology that explicitly mention sex but he was not a child of Athena, so the details faded away almost immediately after the test in High School.
"Wouldn’t a daughter of Athena know if the Gods had sex?" River asked, taking one of the few opportunities he saw to turn the teasing back on Anissa. He made a clicking sound with his tongue and shook his head in false disappointment. "That’s not very smart of you. I guess we can cross her off the list of possibilities."
“Oh, I knew you’d say that.” She threw him an exaggerated look of offence. “Low blow, Ocean Boy. I happen to be very smart. Just selectively educated, thank you very much.”
"Oh, yes. Right. My bad," he said with dry sarcasm. "Dumb Ocean boy only knows seaweed and fish."
After a moment or two of playing dumb, River chuckled softly as she looked down at the ground while he gave the snow a little kick. His brows furrowed and eyes squinted when he actually realized what they were talking about. "Wait a minute," he nearly stopped in his tracks as they rounded the northern side of the arena. "Why do you want to know if the Gods have sex?" he asked, looking over at her with a suspicious expression. "You want to have sex with Ares, don’t you?"
Anissa gasped like he’d just accused her of high treason. “Excuse you?!” she exclaimed, wheeling on him with scandalized flair. “You think I’d go for Mr. Rage Boner himself? Please!” She waved a hand through the air like swatting away an awful idea.
River froze in his tracks as she seemed physically revolted by the idea. He tried to hide an amused chuckle, back stepping as she came at him waving her hands around.
“I have standards, you know? And don’t act all uppity uppity as if you wouldn’t give it a go if Aphrodite offered to like…give you a blowjob or something.” She sniffed.“Besides, if I were gonna go god-hopping, Ares would be ranked dead last.” She shuddered dramatically, wrinkling her nose as if the mere idea left a bad taste in her mouth. Then, tapping a finger on her chin, she pretended to weigh her options.
"Well… yeah. She’s the literal Goddess of love. Even you would drop trou for her," he agreed without question, motioning his hands at her as he included her in the Aphrodite bang wagon. Anyone would sleep with her. Although, to be fair, a pretty girl could punch him and River would probably thank them, because at least a girl was giving him attention. Note to self, neverrrrrrrrr tell Anissa that. She’ll have too much fun.
She waved him off. “ Yea, yea, yea. Too obvious. Butttt….top of the list, though? Hmm...Poseidon, probably.”
River made a weird noise, somewhere between a snort and gasp that was immediately followed by a coughing fit. He nearly doubled over, holding his chest as he tried to catch his breath. He turned his head toward her, now at eye level. His face was all scrunched up in horror, disgust, betrayal? Maybe even a twinge of jealousy, not that he would ever admit that. It was a big melting pot of ‘what the fuck’ emotions.
She left the words suspended, just long enough to raise doubt, before she shot River a sly, sideways glance, the corner of her mouth tugging upward. “Y’know, out of respect, of course. Plus, I hear he really knows how to rock the boat.” The pun rolled off her tongue effortlessly, and she watched River’s reaction, biting back a laugh. But then she tilted her head slightly, casting a quick glance skyward.
“That was a joke, by the way. Promise I’m not looking to screw any of you.”
Trying not to die from shock, disgust, or choking on his own spit, he could barely keep his eyes open to see she was talking to the Gods. So when Anissa spoke, River’s heart skipped a beat. He stood upright abruptly. His coughing fit ceasing to exist with his attention focused elsewhere. Before he could calm himself down and force himself to attempt being rational, he took a few quick steps to get in front of her. "Hold up, who is ‘any of you’?" What did she mean by ‘any of you’? Was he part of that ‘you’? There was no one else there, so who else could it be? And why did he care?
Anissa started to turn, her laughter still bubbling in her throat, when River abruptly stepped into her path. She blinked rapidly, unprepared for the sudden closeness or the fierce intensity hardening his expression. The easy warmth of what she’d believed was their shared joke vanished instantly, replaced by a tension that prickled uncomfortably across her skin.
Her lingering smile dissolved completely, replaced by genuine bewilderment. “…What?” she asked, her voice noticeably flatter than before. Her eyebrows pulled together in a deep, puzzled frown, and her head tilted slightly to one side, like a bird trying to understand a sudden disturbance. “I said the Gods. You know, plural? Like big divine sky creepers watching from above?” A spark of irritation flared within her at his unexplained intensity, but a rising curiosity quickly overshadowed it.
She gave a weak chuckle, gesturing vaguely upward again as if trying to re-lighten the mood, but her eyes were scanning his face now, really scanning it. Something had changed, and it took her a second too long to realize she might’ve brushed up against something more personal than she meant to.
River took a stumbling step back and closed his eyes. Idiot. He sighed and rested his hands on his hips, utterly embarrassed. What the hell was he doing? Acting crazy, that’s what. His right hand raised, thumb and index finger pinching the bridge of his nose. He should leave, just walk off before he could make himself look any more ridiculous and pathetic than he already did. "Right, off course… That makes sense." He nodded his head a couple times before turning on his heels and starting to walk away.
“Wait…” The girl’s voice softened significantly, losing all traces of mockery. The defensive confusion melted away, replaced by a gentler, more attentive expression.“What did you think I meant by that?”
He stopped when Anissa told him to wait, but he didn’t turn back around. "Umm…" River exhaled deeply, puffing out his lips. His fingers slipped through his damp locks to scratch the back of his head. "I don’t know. When you said ‘any of you,’ I guess I thought you meant Poseidon and any of his—" his hands moved up and down like he was searching for the thought or weighing the options, "—offspring," he admitted, against his better judgement and nagging feeling in his gut.
Why in the hell did he think that’s what she meant? What did it matter? He had known her for all of, what? Half an hour? River’s lips pursed as he chewed on the inside of his cheek. All that ran through his head was the few times in his life when he had a crush or a friend. It was exciting and new. Someone who spent time with him and wasn’t put off by his dense awkwardness. Only to find out it was out of pity or they pulled away, ghosting him for one reason or another. It wasn’t like he was trying to sleep with Anissa, but something about that rejection triggered something in him. He didn’t know what, but he didn’t like it either.
Great. Awesome. That was now how many times he made himself look like a complete imbecile. It was only a matter of time before his own insecurities did the exact thing he kept trying to avoid… Pushing people away. He didn’t want to push Anissa away. She was the first person that got him to loosen up, if even for a minute. But he had to fuck it up. His eyes fixated on a branch weighed down by the snow as he mind ran in self deprecating loops.
For a long, silent moment, Anissa simply stared at him, trying to process the strangeness of it all. Why would her stupid joke about ancient gods wanting romance make him look like she’d struck him across the face? The disconnect felt jarring, almost illogical. Then, the crucial part landed. Not the whole tangled mess, but the core truth.
Oh.
A bit of disbelief mixed with something else rose within her. It was absurd, really. They were practically strangers navigating this bizarre situation, and already he’d assumed her flippant remark was a rejection aimed at him?
She felt a confusing swirl of bafflement and, surprisingly, an unexpected warmth of being… noticed. Maybe even a little flattered beneath the utter strangeness.
Her lips parted as if to speak, then pressed shut again without a sound. Finding the right words – genuine, straightforward ones – felt like navigating very unfamiliar territory. Teasing, banter, quick deflections? Those were her native languages. This sudden plunge into someone else’s exposed feelings? It was entirely different, leaving her momentarily adrift.
“River…” Anissa finally managed, her voice softer than intended as she took a step closer. The beginnings of a smile touched her lips but vanished instantly; the gravity of the moment demanded seriousness. “I wasn’t making fun of you. And I wasn’t talking about you either.”She kept her gaze on him, willing him to see the honesty there even if he wasn’t looking directly at her.
When she said his name River sighed and slowly turned around to face her. His face was painted with an expression of apologetic embarrassment. He struggled to meet her gaze, but forced himself to look in her eyes even if it made his stomach knot.
“I know I joke around a lot,” she acknowledged, “but I don’t think of you like that. Some random ‘offspring of a god’ that I’m just lumping in with the rest of them.” There was a slight hesitation here, signaling the next admission was harder to voice. “And for what it’s worth… if that was what you thought, I mean…” She gave an almost imperceptible shrug, her eyes moving away for just a fraction of a second before snapping back to where he stood. “I get why you’d care. And I wouldn’t blame you for it.” A bit of her usual self surfaced, a tiny spark to lighten the heavy mood.“I mean… I am kind of hard to resist.” The grin that followed was brief, self-aware, and entirely meant to smoothen the delivery of her awkward sincerity.
River rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. He cocked his head to the side and nodded it. For whatever reason, he found her ability to tease after all that to be reassuring and even help lower tensions. "Yeah. Yeah, beauty Queen," he said with playful annoyance before flicking a tiny bit of snow off a branch at her. It was barely bigger than a snowflake but enough to stick in a little piece of her hair.
Anissa laughed but didn’t let the moment dissolve back into pure ease. She pushed forward, into the uncomfortable honesty. “I’m not great at this,” she admitted plainly, making a vague gesture between them. “The comfort thing. The serious talking.” A hint of frustration colored her voice, directed inward. “You’d think I’d be better after dealing with… dealing with people all the time.” The unspoken weight of her usual interactions was left unsaid, too complex, sometimes dangerous, rarely requiring just gentle reassurance. “But this? Talking like this? It’s… harder. Different.” She let out a slow exhale, releasing some of the tension coiling within her. “But if I made you feel like I was lumping you in with all that celestial mess, I’m sorry. I wasn’t.”
And finally, this time, the small smile she offered him wasn’t a cover for anything or a joke. It was real. Tentative, perhaps, but undeniably true.
"You didn’t. I just… Missed the context or something," River admitted trying to reassure her. Anissa’s smile caused him to match it with his own tentative grin as he slowly took a couple steps forward to return to her side. "If it’s any consolation, I’m not really good at the whole playful thing… Or social cues," he confessed with a wary laugh before slowly starting to continue them along the path. After a moment or two of silence as their shows crunched the white powder underfoot, he spoke up again. "I’ll make you a deal, you help me loosen up and I’ll help you with the serious stuff," he offered with an amused grin. It was no secret that he could definitely learn to be a little less uptight and sociable, but it also gave them another reason to see one another. After all, things weren’t going terrible… so far. That was a plus.
Anissa blinked at the offer like it had surprised her, like she hadn’t expected him to turn the moment into something… cooperative. A deal. A give and take.
"Deal," she heard herself say, the word slipping out almost automatically as they resumed walking side by side. The agreement felt both risky and strangely inevitable. "But fair warning: if I teach you to loosen up, you might actually start enjoying yourself. And then where will your brooding, mysterious leader reputation be?" To emphasize the point, she made a downward gesture with her hand, mimicking the pull of a toilet handle and the accompanying whoosh of water.
He raised his brows inquisitively. "You think I’m mysterious?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm. That was a new one for River, or at least to his face anyway. What could be so enigmatic about him? People were in for disappointment if they thought he was some multifaceted person. He wasn’t. If they were dying to know something they could ask, as he said before, he was an open book. But there really wasn’t more than what meets the eye.
“Oh yeah, for sure. You’ve got that “I don’t feel like I belong here, but I gotta lead anyway” vibe.” Anissa recognized the look he gave her instantly after that; it was the expression of someone convinced she was either making fun of him or simply seeing her reflection in his struggles. And if she was being honest with herself, it bothered her that he wasn’t buying it.
Anissa knew she wasn’t pulling this observation from thin air. After all, the necessary proof was right there in his recent choices. He could’ve easily walked away after that painfully awkward moment they’d just had. He could’ve laughed it off, brushed her aside, or retreated behind a cool leader persona. Instead, he’d stopped and admitted he misread her intentions, offered a deal in the form of a mutual exchange, and tried, clumsily but sincerely, to meet her halfway. And before that? His intense reaction itself, the wounded tension radiating from him when he mistakenly thought she was lumping him in with the uncaring gods? That hadn’t been wounded pride. It was the reaction of someone who’d been casually dismissed, overlooked, or reduced to a category one too many times.
And Anissa felt, of all the people he’d probably interacted with so far, she could understand that the most.
She’d spent most of her life pretending her world wasn’t fractured down the middle. Pretending the things she saw weren’t real, that the chill brushing her neck in a crowded room wasn’t death hovering too close, that the dreams she had weren’t warnings. People didn’t take well to truths like that. They were too dark, too weird, too inconvenient. So she’d learned to keep it tucked away, stay pretty, and act normal. But beneath all that polish was someone who’d been quietly pushed aside her whole life: by classmates who thought she was creepy, by a mother who never quite asked the right questions, by a father who had never once shown his face.
So yeah, she recognized that look in River. Not because he’d told her anything, but because she’d worn it too.
Or perhaps…she truly was projecting.
Either way, he cared. She could see it now, undeniable and vivid. It shone through in the careful way he listened, even when her words were confusing and perhaps weird as hell at times. It was evident in his stubborn persistence and willingness to keep trying to connect despite his obvious social clumsiness. This caring wasn’t just directed at her in this strange moment either; it seemed woven into his very being. It was about the camp he would lead, the heavy responsibility of his role, and the people under his watch, people he felt responsible for already, despite the clear reluctance to meet them all.
So, Anissa said the only thing that made sense at the time. Something a little messy, a little honest, and a little her:
“Ok, so you’re not mysterious like ‘hot vampire Edward Cullen in the corner’ mysterious. It’s just that… you care. More than you let on. I can tell….”
"Hmm," River mused as he slid his fingers into the front pocket of his khakis. He didn’t know how to digest what she said. It was a strange sensation being dissected and analyzed, like everything internal was laid bare for the world to see. It wasn’t like he hid who he was or pretended to be something he wasn’t. But having parts of yourself, parts that you hadn’t fully come to terms with or knew existed, read back to you like a biography was almost an out of body experience.
Did he care? Sure. He wasn’t a sociopath. River cared about his family. He cared about the burden dropped on his shoulders and not wanting to fail. He cared about making a good first impression with Anissa, although he wasn’t entirely sure why. And he cared about what people thought about him, especially everyone at camp that he was forced to lead. He cared about it more than he should, to the point that a constant sensation of dread nagged at the back of his mind and lingered in the pit of his stomach.
It wasn’t something he hid or kept locked away, but his cold and broody nature must have made that part of him harder to notice. Part of him hoped that he didn’t come off as someone who couldn’t care less. Anissa was the first person in awhile who had taken more than five minutes to try and understand who he was beyond face value. Maybe River was mysterious. Poseidon would rather that, than a soft son who cared too much about how everything he did was perceived.
"So…" he started, breaking the momentary silence. "I’m not a sexy vampire?" River looked over at her with a raised brow and faint grin.
"Sorry to burst your bubble," Anissa replied, "but no. Zero sparkling detected. Butttttt, if it makes you feel better, I'm still reserving judgment on 'sexy ocean boy.' Jury's still out."
By this point in the conversation, he should have known better than to give her more ammunition. "Noted." River laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck. He avoided her gaze as he focused all his attention on trying to keep from blushing.
The path circled around the arena and led them past the armory. The trees grew more sparse as everything started opening up. They were getting close to the party. River could hear faint music and smell the burning wood of a bonfire. He looked over at Anissa beside him, snowflakes speckling her dark hair. He wished he hadn't made a fool out of himself countless times and that he had a better understanding of how to act around others, especially girls. But there was a quiet part of him that was thankful it didn't scare her away. Maybe she was crazy. That had to be it.
Amused at his own thought, a chuckle escaped his lips. He cleared his throat, trying to cover it up as she moved his gaze from her to the path ahead. They had maybe five minutes left before their little bubble of solace broke when they joined the party. Realizing it might be their last chance to have a conversation before disappearing into a crowd of demigods, River took the opportunity to learn something of his own. "What’s something you like?" he asked. His pace slowed as he looked back over at her. "It can be anything."
River could see a small smoke column dissipating into the night's sky above a sizable bonfire. Nestled behind the armory up against the side of the arena was a countdown that hung on the wall showing that there was around 5 hours before midnight. Leaning against the wall beneath it was a large mound of snow with several lanes for sledding. On the other side of the bonfire was a small ice skating rink and some sort of dance floor and music. Near the dance area was a rather large and stocked bar that seemed to be getting a lot of attention. Then scattered throughout the grounds of the field were various tables, chairs and enough demigods to make him want to turn tail and run.
Anissa slowed at his question, her boots scuffing against the packed snow. She didn’t answer right away, needing a moment to sift through the sudden intimacy of the inquiry. What did she like? Simple pleasures felt oddly complex under scrutiny. Her gaze dropped, focusing intently on the patterns the frost made beneath her tread, as if the swirling ice crystals held the answers.
“The rain,” she finally offered. “The heavy kind. The sort that drowns out everything else.” As she spoke, the words pulled at that memory of looking for that thing buried under the magnolia. While she had been disappointed, the girl could admit now that there had also been that feeling of being utterly alone yet not afraid, somewhat lost yet surrounded by the downpour’s roar that could drown out the dead’s demands. Her calm delivery couldn't mask the distant look that clouded her eyes at that moment, transporting her to that place, far from the snowy path and River’s presence. It was a specific kind of solitude, that loudness, she rarely admitted to needing.
Anissa became aware then that she’d revealed more than intended. To counter it, she grasped for something simpler. “Also, lemon pastries. The flaky kind. There was a bakery that sold them back home that I loved buying them from.” She turned her head towards him, her expression neutral but her eyes filled with a defensive curiosity. “Why do you ask? You’re not planning to try and make them, are you?”
"The rain is nice," he agreed with a nod. He couldn’t agree when it came to the lemon pastries though. River wasn’t a big fan of lemon beyond lemonade and even then, he had to be in the mood for it. His brows knit together as he looked at her and chuckled behind closed lips. "No? I mean, I can? But I’m not a very good cook." He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "You asked a question, so I figured I’d ask my own. Ya know, before I go be broody and mysterious." Or, more importantly, before everyone has her attention. Anissa was beautiful and playful. If guys at camp weren’t dying to get to know her they were either blind or stupid… or both.
Anissa snorted.
“So you are leaning into the brand now. Bold strategy, but I approve.”
But even as the teasing words left her lips, a more significant realization settled in the back of her mind, warming her from within. He hadn’t brushed off her answers about the rain or the pastries. Crucially, he hadn’t tried to pry deeper either, to dissect why she liked things that demanded nothing, which was a relief as she wasn’t ready to unpack that fully herself.
It was…refreshing, to say the least.
He shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head once to the side. "Play to my strengths, right?"
River came to a halt at the edge of the field. He stood close enough that the toes of his shoes brushed against the frostbitten grass, teasing to take one more step and officially enter the party. He leaned slightly toward Anissa but kept his gaze fixated on the festivities ahead. "I like sunrises," he confessed, offering his own answers to his question, even if she didn’t ask. "Most people see sunsets everyday. But you have to be up early, or late, for a sunrise. It’s quieter. Less people. You get to feel everything getting warmer as the day comes to life."
There was a peaceful serenity to a sunrise as it glistened off the waves of a morning tide. River would often eat his breakfast sitting in the sand on the beach, watching the sun come up and paint the sky shades of pink and orange. The best mornings were on the days of a big swell where he woke up before the sun. There was something indescribable about being on his board, riding a wave as the world inhaled its first breath of the day. He’d take a sunrise over a sunset everyday.
"I also like coconut," he added, sparing a glance over at her. "Anything coconut, really. But my favorite is those little coconut shavings—" he rubbed the tips of his thumb, index and middle finger like he was sprinkling a garnish, "—like the ones you find on desserts or chocolates."
Realizing they could no longer delay the inevitable, River sighed. "Back to the real world I guess," he mused as most of the light seemed to drain from his face. He put on a brave smile as he looked over at her. "Try not to break too many hearts out there, Beauty Queen."
Anissa arched an eyebrow, lips curling in a slow, dangerous smile designed to make his stomach flip. “That’s only the second time you’ve called me that now,” she pointed out, her voice a low purr. “You holding out on me right now, Ocean Boy?”
She let the question hang just enough to make him wonder exactly what she meant before adding, “Or do you plan on calling all the girls at camp that?”
Anissa didn’t truly expect or need an immediate answer to her question; its purpose was more about watching his reaction and keeping him slightly off-balance. Her attention had already begun to drift, a bit of movement snagging her focus just beyond the bright circle of bonfire light. There, partially swallowed by the darkness near an oak tree, stood a tall figure.
The side of River’s mouth curved into a lopsided grin. A singular weak laugh escaped his lips. "Nah, I’ll let you have that one," he replied with a surprising calmness. Her playfulness was already starting to rub off on him. Next thing he knew he’d be teasing and cracking jokes like it was normal.
Recognition prickled, a plan already in mind for what she wanted to do next once finished here: apologize. Yet, turning her attention fully away from River also proved harder than she’d expected, the warmth of their unusual exchange creating a strange tug of reluctance.
Finally, Anissa managed to push past the unexpected resistance. It’s not like he would just… leave the party, right?
“Guess I’ll see you around, then?”
River nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Sure thing," he replied with a subtle confidence and a faint smile. He was reluctant to let the conversation end there. Several more laps around camp with Anissa’s teasing and him making an utter fool of himself sounded better than what lied fifty feet ahead.
Rather than follow her in, River decided to hang back at the edge of the field with his hands shoved in his pockets, pacing back and forth in front of the infirmary. He tried his best not to watch as Anissa disappeared into the mix of demigods, focusing on his own well of anxiety that bubbled up in his stomach at the prospect of socializing. It took him nearly another five minutes of building up courage before he sighed and finally stepped onto the field… There was no turning back now.
With each step River’s feet grew heavier like there were lead blocks strapped to the soles of his shoes. Before he knew what he was going to do or where he was going to go, his feet were carrying him in the direction of the bonfire. It seemed to be the least busy area of the party, aside from the sledding hill, which he had no desire to partake in, at least right now. He made his way to a log bench opposite a petite brunette with a puppy and a glass of wine with the large fire separating separating them. Luckily he wouldn't be expected to socialize... for a moment or two anyway.
End of collab pt. 2/2
