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[color=#A8516E][b]#A8516E[/b][/color] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c].....[/color] [color=9b9b9b][b]Arena[/b][/color]
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[color=gray][h3][sup][sup]Admittedly, all of the ties dampened the meaning of coming in fifth. Rosalia was seventh for performance, since there was a three-way tie for third, and her sixth-best performance was shared with four other people. More pressingly, however, was the question of what context did this fifth-place, tied-for-seventh-best performance, take place in anyway? What boons did the others have from their heritage? What were their backgrounds? There seemed to be a wide spread of abilities, if nothing else, so anything could be on the table. When placed in context, her performance could have been anything from a solid starting point to an embarrassment. Rosalia regretted not paying closer attention to the frontrunners. If she had gotten a better sense of the effort they had put forward, it could have clarified things. 

As a rule, Rosalia compared herself to others. It wasn’t just a matter of doing her best. Her own personal best was meaningless, as far as she was concerned, if it wasn’t held up against those of others. In her head, she felt her approach to providing baselines was probably the right decision. She needed to demonstrate what she could reliably accomplish when putting forth legitimate effort. That was it. And as sensible of an approach as she reckoned it to be, what disconcerted her was that she had merely done well. She hadn’t, as some others may have, done her absolute best. Worse, there was the possibility that others ahead of her hadn’t found the obstacle course difficult at all. If that was the case, there was no telling if going toe-to-toe with the top performers in this department was even possible. 

Then again, the failures could substitute thirty pushups for success. The moment that alternative left River’s mouth, Rosalia had to clasp her hand to her mouth to hide an involuntary chuckle. Thirty pushups! It was like PE! Perhaps some of these demigods were more prepared for sipping ambrosia on Mount Olympus than performing whatever ordained duties their sort of people had. It wasn’t as reassuring as she’d have liked. Hopefully, there were quick learners and people with other talents among this group, or there was a contingent of the camp destined to be dead weight. But what did their “leader” think, then? He was the one who had called for evaluations and given the lenient alternative. Was he a driven leader? Was he given direction as a leader? What process got him to that point?

Passive musing was perfectly fine when there was nothing to be imminently done. But her questions had answers, and the one who could answer them was still in the arena. Unfortunately, she was too slow. Someone else—someone who, as eavesdropping made immediately apparent, was another child of Poseidon—beat her to him. To her credit, she—Maylisse—started answering some of Rosalia’s questions from the start. Apparently Poseidon was more involved than Zeus, at least in their respective circumstances. Evidently, Rosalia was far from the only one with mixed feelings about her divine parents. Maylisse shortly provided more takeaways, though. Takeaways Rosalia didn’t expect. For one, the brief interruption of thanks evoked an interesting response in the daughter of Poseidon. Though she could nitpick the wording and the stakes Maylisse assigned to River’s position, there was some overlap in their sentiment. River certainly was starting off on the lenient side. Authority was a hard thing to accumulate. Respect was difficult to earn. And so on and so forth. But really, even demigods as they were, Rosalia couldn’t help but fixate on the affectation Maylisse delivered her assessment with. And that she did this so readily to someone just appointed leader? Rosalia had no doubt she may have missed some context or some angle that framed this entire thing differently. But as it stood, it seemed this Maylisse character had a mind to continue steamrolling her brother. Passively waiting was a recipe to spend half a day listening to this whole thing become progressively less meaningful.  

So, Rosalia stopped simply waiting around. She approached the siblings and stood a respectful distance away. In practical terms, it didn’t matter. She could hear private conversations from much further off; it was just the principle of the matter. She waited until she caught River’s gaze. When her opportunity came, she made eye contact. With a nod, a small wave, and a tight-lipped smile, she signaled her desire to speak to him as unobtrusively as she could. It was probably unnecessary, but if there was going to be discipline here, it would come only if those who cared for it helped lead by example.

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[color=808080][b]Interactions[/b] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c]....[/color] River & Maylisse  [color=2e2c2c]...............[/color] [b]Mentions[/b] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c]....[/color] Iliana  [color=2e2c2c]...............[/color] [b]Collabs[/b] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c]....[/color] None[/color]
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