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[indent][indent][indent][indent][justify][color=808080]The second plate had definitely been the right call. Elias worked through the last of it the way he always did when his body had been pushed to its limits, his fork moving on autopilot while his mind took its time settling. Every so often, his gaze drifted across the table to Mikaela’s tray, which still looked like the aftermath of a gluttonous hurricane. The sight of it kept tugging the corner of his mouth upward without permission. She’d eaten like she had something to prove, and he respected that, even if everything about her diet made his eyes twitch with the restraint of a man watching someone juggle chainsaws. He’d said his piece, though, and she’d rolled her eyes and finished her cake in defiant protest. That was probably as close to victory as he was going to get for now.

He set his fork down and reached for his water, finishing what remained in a few slow swallows. The conversation with Mikaela had left him feeling… not better, exactly. The Tapeesa situation hadn’t resolved itself just because he’d talked about it. The facts were still the same; his belongings had still ended up deposited outside her door. But he felt lighter, maybe. Like saying it all out loud to someone who didn’t already have a stake in the outcome had siphoned off some of its density. He hadn’t expected that from a girl he’d met approximately an hour ago, but Elias wasn’t the type to look a good surprise in the mouth.

When he finished, he stacked his cutlery neatly on the empty plate—an old habit from years of keeping Marisol’s kitchen orderly when she couldn’t manage it herself—and pushed back slightly from the table.

[color=#d4af37]"I'll find you at the gym,"[/color] he said, and he meant it completely. The gym partner deal had been her move, sure, but he appreciated that more than he'd let on. [color=#d4af37]"And Mikaela."[/color] He waited until she looked at him. [color=#d4af37]"Thanks. For listening."[/color] Then he stood, gathered his tray, and made his exit before sincerity could curdle into awkwardness. He returned his tray, pulled on his jacket by the door, and pushed outside.

The cold hit him cleanly, a sharp contrast to the main hall's warmth that Elias didn't mind. The desert was pretty much the same way; it baked you in the day and stripped the heat back at night. He stood on the steps for a moment in it, not quite ready to move, letting his eyes adjust to the flat winter light. Then, he started down the path, hands finding his jacket pockets by habit. Cabin 20 sat on the eastern side, which meant cutting straight across the field or skirting its edge. He took the most direct route without thinking much about it.

Something about the cold air over open ground and the light smell of woodsmoke that hadn’t fully dispersed slowed Elias’s steps before he consciously decided to slow them. The bonfire pit from the party was still there, logs blackened and half-collapsed into themselves, surrounded by a scorched circle the snow hadn’t quite managed to cover. Someone had stacked the log benches back into neat rows. The bar setup was gone, however, and the skating rink had also vanished, leaving only a faint rectangular depression in the grass where the cold had done its work.

It looked smaller in the daylight. Places always did. He’d first noticed it as a kid, after a warehouse show that had felt enormous in the dark. He’d walked past the building the next morning on his way to grab breakfast and barely recognized it beyond what it was: a squat concrete box with peeling paint and a busted gutter. From this, it had taken him a while to figure out that it wasn’t the places that changed. Strip away the music, the people, and the particular voltage of a night with momentum, and what remained was just the container. The bones of a thing. He'd thought about that a lot after Marisol's bad spells, too, when the house felt cavernous in ways it didn't when she was up and moving through it.

By then, however, Elias’s stride had started to carry him past the bonfire pit when something snagged in his peripheral vision and pulled him up short. He crouched down, forearms resting on his knees, and found a cream beret half-buried in the trampled snow near the edge of the scorch. He picked it up carefully, turning it over in his hands and brushing the damp away with his thumb. The felted wool still held its shape, which meant it hadn't been out here too long. Left behind last night, probably, in the chaos of midnight and whatever had come after.

He straightened up, still holding it, his gaze moving across the empty field as if the owner might still be standing somewhere nearby. But there was nobody, of course, just the treeline and the grey sky. Actually, no, this wasn’t quite true, Elias taking notice of a tall figure skirting the far edge of the field. The figure’s hands were shoved into his pockets with his gaze fixed on something not quite in front of him and not quite anywhere else. River also had that particular look—the one that said he was physically present but mentally adrift, and that usually meant a person wanted to be left alone. Elias had worn that expression enough himself to recognize it. Still, he turned the beret over one more time, that nagging almost-recognition still sitting unresolved at the back of his mind, and lifted his free hand in a small wave.

River had left the arena mostly because he felt like he had to. He didn’t want to linger on the edge of girl talk or whatever barrage of questions Anissa’s friend would throw at him. But Blair’s knowing smirk made it pretty obvious that he was a large topic of their conversation, so even as he left his ears continued to burn with the knowledge that he was [i]definitely[/i] being talked about. He tried, desperately, not to think about it, but that lasted about as far as the stables before every possibility started running through his head. On one hand he knew Anissa didn’t hate him, because… well, she went out of her way to bring him food, or the thing with the rope climb. But no matter how much he told himself that, there was still the nagging doubt or that Blair would talk some sense into her… or a million other possibilities that plagued his mind. 

His hands shoved deeper into his pockets to try and ground himself as he walked. If he didn’t cement them in place there was a non-zero chance he’d start flailing them about and talking to himself, if only to try and make sense of the warring emotions and thoughts and whatever else that churned inside him. There was a temptation to pace, but he was already walking and he definitely [i]wasn’t[/i] going back to the arena. The dilemma kept tugging him back and forth until he actually stopped midstride to regain [i]some[/i] semblance of control. River’s attention drifted across the field, trying to remember the bar, ice rink, and bonfire like some sort of fever dream when he noticed that he wasn’t as alone as he had thought. Standing near where the bonfire once roared with life less than a day ago was another demigod—whose name he couldn’t remember—waving at him and clutching something small and white in his hand that triggered some strange sort of recognition. 

River’s brows creased and eyes narrowed like he was trying to piece together a puzzle his brain was too slow to put together. He looked like an idiot, dazed, dumbfounded, and just… staring. Before he could make a bigger fool out of himself, he pulled his right hand from his pocket and gave a small wave in response. [color=86a8ad][i]Ok, great. You’ve acknowledged him. Now what?[/i][/color] With the social etiquette and knowledge of a toddler, he was left in a new predicament trying to decide if he should keep walking toward his cabin or approach the guy whose name eluded him or call out. Which all boiled down to him just… standing there.

Elias watched the recognition land on River's face in stages: the slight crease of his brow, the narrowed eyes working through something, the delayed wave that came about three seconds after it probably should have. It wasn't quite the reaction of someone who'd spotted a person they knew. It was the reaction of someone who'd spotted a person and a problem at the same time and hadn't yet figured out which one to deal with first.

He saved River the trouble of resolving his own internal standoff by closing some of the distance himself, stopping a few feet short, which was close enough for conversation but not so close to feel like an ambush. [color=#d4af37]"Elias,"[/color] he offered, because the look on River's face suggested the name hadn't quite resurfaced yet. That was fair. They’d only spoken for what was probably 30 seconds total.

River nodded his head in slow recognition while attempting to put the face and name together best he could. It was going to take some time keeping everyone straight but having more than an obstacle course to go off of helped. [color=86a8ad]"Right. Sorry. A lot of new faces in a short time so… naturally I remember none of them."[/color]

[color=#d4af37]"No worries,"[/color] Elias said, and meant it without any particular generosity behind it. He'd have done the same. Probably worse. [color=#d4af37]"I was the one that asked you about a friend this morning. In the arena."[/color] He paused, realizing immediately how little that actually narrowed it down given that River had spoken to approximately forty people that morning. [color=#d4af37]"The one you didn't have on your list."[/color]

The recognition was plain across River’s face the moment it struck and the dots started connecting. [color=86a8ad]"[i]Right.[/i] Right,"[/color] he responded with a slow nod. [color=86a8ad]"I wouldn’t take it too personally… Seems like there was a mass exodus in the middle of the night."[/color] His shoulders rose and fell in a weak shrug. [color=86a8ad]"It’s a lot—[i]the whole demigod thing[/i]—I think it’s too much for some people."[/color] 

His hand slipped from his pocket so his fingers could run back through his dark hair before idly scratching at the base of his skull. [color=86a8ad]"Not entirely sure if I would have stayed if I wasn’t forced to be here."[/color] Then River’s face contorted in that way where his blunt honesty slipped past any form of mental barricade and flooded out into the open whether he wanted it to or not. He sighed heavily and cleared his throat as if that could mask his confession or move the conversation on without any proper fodder. 

It wasn't the kind of thing a leader was supposed to say. Probably. Definitely not within the first twenty-four hours of holding the position. Yet the admission carried a particular honesty that Elias had always found difficult to dismiss. Marisol had been exactly like that. She'd never bothered dressing up difficult truths in softer language, not when he was six years old and throwing tantrums that flooded the backyard, not when he was seventeen and furious at everything he couldn't control, not even when she was the one hurting. Back then, her refusal to simply tell him what he wanted to hear had frustrated him to no end. He understood it better now, though. Age had a way of sanding down resentment until all that remained was gratitude.

[color=#d4af37]"Yeah,"[/color] he said finally, and left it there for a second before adding, [color=#d4af37]"I get that."[/color] He wasn't sure he meant it the same way River did. He hadn't been forced here exactly; the letter had felt more like an answer than a summons. But the weight of it, the sheer size of what camp implied about who you were and what was expected of you, that part he understood well enough.  Still, he didn't push further. River already wore the expression of a man who regretted speaking so candidly, the slight downturn of his mouth telegraphing a quiet wish to swallow the words back down. Elias wasn't in the business of making people feel worse about accidental honesty, or he tried not to be. Some days were better than others. He would just have to be better today.

He held up the beret, not quite presenting it so much as acknowledging its existence. [color=#d4af37]"Found this near the bonfire pit. Figured someone's probably missing it."[/color] He paused, something flickering at the edge of his memory. Firelight. Dark hair. A hat sitting slightly askew. [color=#d4af37]"You were at the party, right?"[/color] 

The white beret caught River’s attention a second before Elias held it up. He tried not to let the immediate recognition play across his face, even if the sight of it brought back glimpses of it resting on Anissa’s dark hair as they detoured their way to the party. He couldn't recall if she had it on during the fireworks… and other things, but he supposed that would make sense if it was found half buried beneath snow in the field. [color=86a8ad]"I was,"[/color] he answered the question plainly. There was a part of him that wondered if there was some subtext he was missing, like Elias [i]knew[/i] he was at the party, [i]knew[/i] the beret belonged to Anissa, and [i]knew[/i] that River unintentionally made a show of making out with her openly at midnight. 

[color=86a8ad]"I uh…"[/color] he continued, clearing his throat and lifting a hand from his pocket to point to the beret. [color=86a8ad]"It’s Anissa’s,"[/color] he answered honestly. It's not like they particularly hid what happened at the party and whether or not he was being tested, River had no reason to lie either. Just because he was the leader didn't mean he wasn't allowed to live… [i]Right?[/i] Whether that was true or not, he didn't regret it, maybe only wished it was more private. Although there were far worse things that happened at that party than him and Anissa making out. 

He shook his head, pulling himself from his own thoughts before more attention could be brought to it than it already had. [color=86a8ad]"She might still be in the arena,"[/color] River added, jabbing his thumb in the air back over his shoulder as he spoke. [color=86a8ad]"Or I can point you toward her cabin… Or I can just get it back to her myself."[/color] The corner of his mouth curled into a lopsided smile, a little awkward like he was caught red-handed. Doing what? He didn't know. But it was still sincere and about as friendly as it could be when he was absolutely terrible at normal socializing. 

The name landed, and the almost-recognition finally resolved itself completely. Anissa. Right. The pretty girl from the bonfire table. The conversation Elias had managed to derail somewhere around the lizard comment before excusing himself to get drinks he'd then completely forgotten to retrieve. [i]Right[/i]. The afternoon had been reasonable so far, thanks to Mikaela, and all things considered, he had no particular desire to walk back into a conversation that had already ended badly once just to hand someone a hat. Some interactions were better left where they were.

He looked back up and caught the tail end of River's smile, piecing together enough of the picture to know he didn't need the rest of it. [color=#d4af37]"If you're heading her way, sure. Saves me the trip,"[/color] Elias said simply, holding the beret out toward him. [color=#d4af37]"Besides, I don’t think this is a face she would be too happy to see right now."[/color] 

River took a small step forward, extending his hand until the tips of his fingers brushed against the cream colored fleece. The image of the beret resting on Anissa’s brunette hair crept to the forefront of his mind as other memories from the night before came flooding up behind it. He cleared his throat, trying to keep them at bay as the tips of his fingers curled around the edge of the hat and took it gently into his grasp. Intentional or not, he held it with a gentle sort of reverence, lightly clutched between both hands while his thumbs stroked the soft fabric. [color=86a8ad]"If I don’t see her today, there’s always tomorrow at training,"[/color] he clarified as he folded the damp beret over once then tucked it into his pocket for safe keeping. 

For whatever reason—likely curiosity or some strange sense of protectiveness that he couldn’t quite put a finger on—River’s thoughts lingered on Elias’s last comment. Anissa hadn’t mentioned this guy to him, nor did he recall ever seeing them interact, yet whatever happened between them was enough to presumably leave a sour taste. There was a small part of him that felt a tinge of jealousy, although he wasn’t entirely sure why, but it was quickly overshadowed by the same feeling that stirred in him around the beginning of the party, the need to defend her against whiny men screaming at her or… [i]whatever[/i] happened with Elias. 

River shifted his weight from one foot to the other, trying not to look obvious in his curiosity or the other thoughts that lingered at the back of his mind. [color=86a8ad]"[i]Why?[/i]"[/color] The question slipped out because… [i]well, of course it did.[/i] [color=86a8ad]"What did your face do?"[/color] He blinked slowly, brows furrowing before he laughed awkwardly. [color=86a8ad]"I mean, what happened?"[/color] he clarified.

Elias exhaled through his nose, a sound that carried the particular weariness of a man who had already turned the same question over in his mind half a dozen times without finding a single satisfying answer. Around them, the field stretched empty and grey, the only movement a faint shiver of wind through the treeline. He shoved his hands deeper into his jacket pockets, not from cold so much as habit, and finally admitted it.

[color=#d4af37]"I called her a lizard,"[/color] he said, letting that sit for a second, well aware of how it sounded. [color=#d4af37]"Not directly,"[/color] he added, because that felt important to clarify. [color=#d4af37]"It was more like... I was trying to say cold hands, warm heart, and somehow it became a whole thing about lizards and snakes and whether or not she hissed."[/color]

He paused. [color=#d4af37]"She didn't think that was funny."[/color]
Another pause.
[color=#d4af37]"And in hindsight, I can see why."[/color]

He said it all with the flat matter-of-fact delivery of someone who had fully accepted that he occasionally said genuinely baffling things to people and simply had to live with the consequences. But then he caught something in River's expression, a shift he couldn't quite read, and his brain did what it always did when it couldn't place something: filled in the blank with the most available explanation.

[color=#d4af37]"I know how it sounds."[/color] Elias's tone edged toward defensive, though not unkindly. [color=#d4af37]"But for the record, I wasn't trying to be weird about the gloves or her…condition–[sub] Whatever it is…[/sub]"[/color]

River sucked in a sharp breath through clenched teeth and a grimace he couldn’t mask if he tried. Yeah, calling someone a lizard wasn’t the best first impression, not that he had much room to talk when it came to social blunders. If anything, Elias seemed to struggle with a similar affliction of less-than-great social skills. There might have been a part of him that felt strangely protective over Anissa but as the explanation unfolded it wasn’t screaming at her and calling her a rat, rather shitty wording and poor communication. The damage didn’t seem irreparable. And honestly, it didn’t sound that much different than the ridiculous bullshit that stumbled out of his own mouth.

He clicked his tongue, rocking back and forth on his heels while tapping his thumbs against the side of his pockets. [color=86a8ad]"I say stupid shit all the time and she doesn’t hate me,"[/color] River offered with an awkward shrug. Ok, sure, it might be a little different because last he checked Elias wasn’t making out with her… but still. His mind stalled momentarily on the comment about her gloves or… [i]condition?[/i]—[i]whatever the fuck he meant by that.[/i] He had [i]noticed[/i] the gloves, or at least he was pretty sure he had. They were there. He saw them. But he never asked. Fashion was weird and people liked what they liked. That was the beginning and end of it, although it seemed Elias’s train of thought turned down an entirely different path. 

[color=86a8ad]"She’s nice though,"[/color] River added casually with a familiarity that might have been a little weird considering he had known her for the better part of a day. But something inside him said he was right, undoubtedly. She [i]was[/i] nice… or at least she was nice to [i]him.[/i] The dangerous thoughts that threatened to spiral made a warmth creep up his neck from beneath the collar of his coat. He quickly cleared his throat and dammed the thoughts before they could pour over. [color=86a8ad]"I just mean… if you apologize I imagine she’ll accept it."[/color] And now he was giving advice to another guy to get on Anissa’s better side. It probably meant nothing… [i]It meant nothing.[/i] She spent the night with [i]him[/i] not Elias. 

Fucking hell he needed to shut his brain off.

[color=#d4af37]"Right…"[/color] Elias said slowly, catching the familiarity in River's voice without bringing it up. He wasn't [i]that[/i] brainless. [color=#d4af37]"Yeah, maybe I'll apologize."[/color]

The word maybe was also doing a lot of heavy lifting there, and he knew it. The honest version was that he now owed apologies to two different people, which felt like a personal record for someone who had been at camp less than twenty-four hours, and the realistic version was that neither of those conversations was happening today. Possibly not tomorrow either. He needed to space them out if only for his own sanity. Two emotionally charged interactions back-to-back seemed like a reliable way to short something out, and he'd had enough of that for one day already.

[color=#d4af37]"Anyway…"[/color] He glanced back toward the main hall, then at River, suddenly aware that he'd essentially intercepted the guy in the middle of an empty field and kept him there for the better part of ten minutes in the cold. [color=#d4af37]"I didn't mean to hold you up. The food's pretty good in there, and after this morning's course, you've probably earned it. More than I did anyway."[/color] Third frickin place. Pfft.

River brushed it off slightly with a small shrug and a little dismissive wave of his hand. [color=86a8ad]"You’re fine. Someone grabbed me food—"[/color] he could have said Anissa, but for whatever reason, considering she was their previous topic, it felt weird to say it… Like it was some strange flex or peacocking or hell if he knew. [color=86a8ad]"—and I think I’m better off avoiding… congregations of campers at the moment. I’m fairly certain after training that half of the people here hate me or want to bombard me with questions I don’t have the answers to."[/color] There was a momentary pause and then he filled the silence with a small click of his tongue. He really needed to learn the art of a happy medium. There was such a thing as slightly painful small talk without unloading every thought that crossed his mind. 

Elias's brow climbed before he could stop it. Half the camp hating their leader after one training session felt like a stretch and far too self-flagellating. Then again, he'd watched River run that course like a man with something to prove. And the speech afterward? It hadn't exactly softened the reality of what they were all walking into. He could see how that might land badly with people, especially those who had to run the course again and were unprepared for its brutality. What Elias didn't entirely understand was why River seemed to [i]expect[/i] the hostility. That kind of preemptive resignation wasn't unfamiliar, though. Elias had worn it himself for years back when his presence tended to shift the atmosphere in ways he couldn't always control. It was exhausting to carry that weight. Harder to set down than it looked.

He didn't say any of that. Some observations were better kept internal. [color=#d4af37]"I don't think it's hate,"[/color] he said instead, shrugging. [color=#d4af37]"You said it yourself: this whole demigod thing can be too much for people. People are just scared. Easier to be pissed off at whoever's in front of them than whatever's actually got them scared."[/color] Elias could have said more after that. There was plenty more to say.  But he'd already had one conversation today that went longer and deeper than he'd planned.

[color=86a8ad]"[i]Eh,[/i]"[/color] was all River offered with an indiscernible shrug that said whatever the reasoning or outcome, it was out of his hands. Whether hatred or forced socializing that ended in questions he could not answer, he accepted it, if only because… it wasn’t like he had any other choice.

River sighed, lightly kicking some snow as his right hand raised to rub the back of his neck. The silence sat there for a beat or two as his mind settled on Elias’s words and the potential implications of what was said. Unfortunately, he couldn’t entirely remember where the guy finished when thirty other demigods were rattling around his mind, but regardless… [color=86a8ad]"Everyone deserves a good meal after training, no matter how they did. Progress is different for everyone. Effort’s what matters."[/color]

[color=#d4af37]"Oh, I already ate, no worries. Twice, actually. Third place could never stop that."[/color] He said it deadpan, but there was something in Elias’s expression that wasn't quite a smile and wasn't quite not one. The competitive grumble still lived somewhere under it, but it was the kind you could laugh at. Mostly.

There was something that could almost pass as a quiet chuckle that rumbled in River’s chest. [color=86a8ad]"Third place is the [i]farthest[/i] thing from bad,"[/color] he offered, crossing his arms across his chest in a way that wasn’t closed off but almost a fraction more comfortable in the conversation. [color=86a8ad]"You were only outpaced by Ares kids—which I doubt anyone will beat them—and me."[/color] He shrugged his shoulders, not really seeing himself as a standard but a byproduct of unachievable expectations set on him from a father he could never please. [color=86a8ad]"My dad’s been training me since I was like five. If I didn’t finish right behind the meatheads he might have [i]actually[/i] thrown me into Tartarus himself,"[/color] he mused with a laugh that toed the line between self-deprecating and reassuring, perhaps it was a bit of both. 

The next few words came out easier than Elias expected, as if they'd been lurking in ambush, waiting for a gap in his defences. [color=#d4af37]"My mom never put it quite like this,"[/color] he said, [color=#d4af37]"but looking back, I think Zeus picked her because she wouldn't try to change me. Which sounds nice until you realize it basically means he needed someone to manage whatever he put in me without it becoming his problem."[/color]

He wasn't bitter about it, exactly. Not anymore. Gods were like that, he'd decided. They loomed colossal from a distance, all awe-inspiring and shit. But then you got older, and the lighting changed, and you saw them for what they actually were: the container—the bones of a thing.

The thing was, Marisol had probably known that long before he did, too. She'd named him Elias on purpose to show that she knew what she was signing up for. Elias had spent years thinking he was figuring something out, piecing together his own mythology from scraps and guesses, when really he'd just been slowly, belatedly catching up to where she already stood.

[color=#d4af37]"So…yea, I get the whole dad thing."[/color] He shrugged, one shoulder lifting in a gesture that tried for nonchalance but was probably somewhere closer to resigned.

River nodded slowly with a quiet understanding he wasn't entirely sure how to put into words. He merely shifted his weight from one leg to the other, then mindlessly moved snow around with the tip of his shoe. [color=86a8ad]"When I was younger I always liked to think that the Gods got with their mortal partners because of love… [i]but[/i]..."[/color] His voice trailed off, considering what Elias said in silent implication. Then his left shoulder raised in a small shrug, a show of quiet acceptance that had settled in him years ago. [color=86a8ad]"Well, they are Gods."[/color]

[color=#d4af37]"Yeah,"[/color] was all that Elias said. Because River had put it about as cleanly as it could be put, and adding anything else would only dilute it. They are Gods. Three words that explained and excused and condemned all at once, depending on the day and the angle you came at it from. 

He stood with it for a second. Then, because he was who he was and the question had already formed before he'd decided whether to ask it: [color=#d4af37]"Did he ever do anything that made you think he actually loved her? Your mom?"[/color] He said it with genuine curiosity because he couldn't recall Marisol ever saying or doing anything that suggested Zeus had loved her. He'd never even asked her how they met (although he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to that either).

River sucked in a sharp breath between his loosely clenched teeth. His eyes squinted as his attention shifted up toward the powder grey sky, searching the clouds for a sliver of a memory that would somehow change his answer. After a second or two of trying and ultimately failing, he rolled his eyes before looking back over at Elias. [color=86a8ad]"I don’t have any memory of my parents talking. Whenever he came…"[/color] He shrugged his shoulders and clicked his tongue. [color=86a8ad]"I don’t know. It was just for me. If there was love between them… They kept it hidden or it died before I was old enough to notice."[/color]

Elias nodded, though it was more out of confirmation than agreement of something he'd suspected but had stubbornly hoped might be wrong. The cold had started to seep through his jacket in earnest now, but his mind was elsewhere, going over what River had just implied.

[color=#d4af37]"Yeah,"[/color] he said quietly. [color=#d4af37]"Same."[/color]

He hadn't exactly meant to say that out loud, but it was true, and Elias had never been particularly good at letting the truth languish unacknowledged once it surfaced. Marisol had loved him completely without condition, a love so total it had probably cost her more than she'd ever let him see. Whether Zeus had ever loved her, though…that was a different question entirely. One he'd just realized he'd been carrying for years, a nascent weight lodged somewhere deep inside.

He exhaled, watching his breath cloud and dissipate into the grey afternoon before shaking off the thought, moving on. That was what Marisol would have wanted, anyway.

There was a long pause as River’s gaze drifted back towards the arena, wondering if it would ever be enough, if he even possessed the skill to do whatever it was that his father wanted him to do. He sighed then looked back over toward Elias with a lopsided smile. [color=86a8ad]"I planned to leave the course up if practice would make you feel better. And I'm always open to help train more… You know, outside of group shit."[/color] He shrugged again, tilting his head slightly to the side indifferently. [color=86a8ad]"Don't know how much help I'd be but I imagine we could push each other through friendly competition and stupid male pride if nothing else,"[/color] he added with a weak laugh, knowing all too well how ruthless competition can be.

Elias was, to say the least, more than a little nonplussed. He'd assumed River would keep a careful distance between himself and the people he was supposed to be leading, pretty much the authoritative self he'd presented so far. This, however, was not that at all. It was something closer to being…human.

The thing that hadn't quite been a smile from earlier made a full appearance this time around.

[color=#d4af37]"Stupid male pride's got a pretty good track record,"[/color] the son of Zeus replied. [color=#d4af37]"Yeah, alright. I'm in."[/color] He meant it the same way he'd meant the gym partner deal with Mikaela: completely and without any stipulations.

[color=#d4af37]"And leave the course up,"[/color] he added, almost as an afterthought, though it wasn't really. [color=#d4af37]"Third place has got a lot to answer for still."[/color]

There was a quiet, snort-like laugh that slipped out as River nodded his head. [color=86a8ad]"Sure thing."[/color] 

His thumb swept across the slightly damp fabric of the beret in his pocket, reminding himself of a looming conversation on the horizon, a headache that scratched at the edges of his mind, and a shower he desperately needed. He sighed and nodded his head in the general direction of his cabin. [color=86a8ad]"Don’t wanna keep you and I could really go for a shower,"[/color] he said with a weak chuckle. [color=86a8ad]"But, you know… Don’t be so hard on yourself about third place,"[/color] River added a bit awkwardly, but there was still sincerity laced throughout his words. 

He took a single step down the path before pivoting, snow crunching underfoot as he half turned back to Elias. [color=86a8ad]"Cabin 37 for whenever you want that friendly competition."[/color] The corner of his mouth rose into that faint, lopsided smile before he turned back around and continued down the path with the determination of someone in need of a shower and a handful of ibuprofen. 

Elias watched him go for a second, hands still buried in his jacket pockets, before he started walking again. Cabin 20 wasn't far. A few minutes, maybe less if he didn't dawdle. He could shower and eat a third time if the mood struck. Maybe, if the afternoon proved unexpectedly generous, he could even figure out which of his two outstanding apologies was less terrifying to deliver first. 

Probably neither today, though. He'd work on that tomorrow.[/color][/justify][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]

[center][sup][img]https://i.imgur.com/9qIY4OK.jpeg[/img]
[color=808080][b]interactions[/b] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c]....[/color] mikaela [color=2e2c2c]...............[/color] [b]mentions[/b] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c]....[/color] tapeesa, anissa & blair [color=2e2c2c]...............[/color] [b]collabs[/b] [color=2e2c2c]....[/color]|[color=2e2c2c]....[/color] [@Qia][/color]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/9qIY4OK.jpeg[/img][/sup][/center]