Blizz

Camp Athens - Closed

lmao

anyway @The Savant I am a firm believer in characters doing questionable shit. they've slept through worse and didnt always have a tree for that. they're a weird, feral mf and theyll stop being that eventually but not today

Camp Athens - Closed

Who tf is Marlene

Camp Athens - Closed

Marlen Ross ~ Child of Apollo ~ Iliana Remington-Taylor ~ Daughter of Demeter

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Marlen was just looking around and not really sure where in the almighty fuck they were meant to go. To the big building where all the other people were going? It looked important, to be sure. But a lot of these buildings looked convoluted enough that they were fucking with Marlen’s ability to gauge their importance at a glance. If they squinted, they could see a house made of glass off in the distance.

But then someone walked up to them.

”Huh? Oh. Yeah… I just got here. Not really sure what’s what. Did a god send you here too?” They asked.

Iliana cocked her head to the side. She wasn’t expecting a question like that, but she figured it was best to answer the person.

”Well, yes, but I came here several months ago. My mom is Demeter and I was sent here for my own protection. Are you hungry or do you want to find a cabin? I can’t remember which cabins are open. I only know the location of mine and a few others. If you’re hungry, the main hall is right here. We get all of our meals here.”

That was one thing she really needed to work on though, knowing whose cabins belong to whom. Maybe she could ask Nelly for help on that since she had perfect memory.

”Yeah. I haven’t had real food in days,” They said. Though, Marlen didn’t consider what they had on that damn boat to be real food because it didn’t come out of a can. They were used to eating not-so-great food on the road.

”Name’s Marlen. I’m Apollo’s kid.”

The instant Apollo’s name came up, Iliana’s eyes lit up and her entire demeanor changed from shy to cheerful.

“Apollo’s your dad?! Oh, he’s amazing. He’s done a lot for me . . . after some things happened before I came to camp.”

She almost mentioned her injuries from her captivity, but managed to stop herself. As happy as she was to meet another one of his children, she wasn’t ready to talk about her ordeal to a complete stranger. Maybe if they got to know each other better, she might be willing. For now, it was baby steps. It was then she remembered Marlen mentioned they hadn’t eaten well in awhile.

”You must be famished then! Let’s get some food in you then,” Iliana said before taking their hand and leading them into the Main Hall.

She saw that people were still inside. Letting go of Marlen’s hand, she turned to him.
”Get whatever you like. There’s plenty of variety. Do you want me to keep you company or I can leave if you want.”

The last thing she wanted to be was a bother.

”Uh-“ There was a lot of food in here. Most definitely not the kind of food a person would get out of a can or out of a vending machine, which was pretty damn unusual to Marlen.

”You’re fine, just… Hm.” Marlen grabbed an apple and a bottle of water. They weren’t that hungry at the moment, but they figured they might as well get full while the food’s there. Instead of eating anything fancy that this camp probably ate on the regular, they went for the bare minimum.

”There we go,” They said, with a loud crunch.

Looked like Marlen didn’t need much. Then again, didn’t say they had some food already? Not one to question their choices, Iliana merely nodded. Besides, she loved apples too. She couldn’t cook for the life of her, but she liked making salads, which included a fruit salad.

”Okay, shall we try to find you a cabin then? If you have any questions, I can try to answer them since I’ve been here for several months.”

She thought about asking for help about available cabins from Andy or Wes, but both were preoccupied and she did not want to interrupt them.

Marlen made a pff sound. ”I dunno, is that what I’m supposed to be doing? All I heard was there were other godly kids here. Didn’t plan on staying too long, unless we’re meant to? Are we?”

Their questions made Iliana think. Honestly she didn’t know how long they were meant to stay there. Her mother or Athena never mentioned how long they would live there.

Honestly, I don’t know the answer to the last question. All my mother told me was to come here with my adopted brother and another friend at the time. My friend did leave, but only because he wanted to finish college. As for what we’ll be doing here. Mostly it’ll be to train. Tonight we’re having a New Year’s Party since for the past few months we’ve been rebuilding due to an incident that happened here that caused a lot of damage. I know I need help with controlling my abilities. So I am glad I am here. Being here has helped me more than living with my brother’s family, although I am really grateful to them. I lost my father at a young age and since my mom couldn’t take care of me, they took me in. My brother is Athena’s son. Just so you are aware, always be honest with him. He’s an expert lie detector. His name is Heath and he’s a tall man with shoulder length blonde hair.”

Iliana was rambling for once, and realizing she was, she clamped her mouth shut and blushed a little. Maybe Nelly was having an effect on her. Suddenly, she felt a tingle go up her spine and she looked to see another new face at a table, with a plant she instantly recognized as a Minthe. She saw what he did before turning back to Marlen. She didn’t know the guy, but he felt familiar. Still she didn’t want to ignore Marlen.

”So was there anything else you’d like to know?”

Well. That was a lot.

Marlen stared at her, eyes wide. ”Uh… Yeah. There is… Training for what? Did I come all this way just to get drafted into the Greek god army? And- What incident? What did I get myself into here?”

Apollo hadn’t said shit about what was going on in this camp. He didn’t tell Marlen about fighting or about people dying or anything like that. Maybe they could get away with defying a god if this turned out to be a mess after all.

Iliana heard what Marlen asked, but she was still a bit embarrassed by all she said. A few minutes later, she finally answered them.

”Well, uh, . . . hmmm. I was never given those answers about our reason for training in general. I was just told why I had to train. Believe me I need it since I have powers that hurt others.”

She left that last part a bit ambiguous for she didn’t lie, but she didn’t want them to know she had hurt and killed before. It was the biggest reason why she never condone Alex’s actions since she had done the exact same things. Thinking of the Valises, she couldn’t help but be envious of them, but that was in the past. She certainly didn’t blame others for disliking them, but she just never could. Wanting to get outside, she turned to Marlen.

”Are you ready to find a cabin now? And about those last two questions, well, as for the incident, are you sure you want to know? It wasn’t a good thing that happened. And I am afraid I can’t answer that last one about what you got yourself into, sorry.”

”Whatever you can tell me, please and thank you.” Marlen held up a map of the place and started walking. ”Going that way, so yeah, lemme see what’s not taken.”

They’d probably just sleep in a tree, though.

As they walked, Iliana tried to think how to explain what happened. She really didn’t want to go into that much detail. And even though she knew what happened to the others, she didn’t know how to talk about them. Should she even mention what happened to them? Maybe she can just summarize? Yes, that was probably best.

”Well, a couple of months ago there was a battle here. There were a lot of monsters and everyone in camp at the time got involved. It happened in the middle of the night, so all of us were taken unaware. Not all of us survived it, but most did. A few left the camp after that. All of us were injured in some form though. I was one of the lucky ones, I only suffered a broken leg. Even though I am no healer, I tried making more healing ointment using flora I grow in my own Greenhouse. It can only help with minor injuries though. As we were healing, some of us, who were able, started rebuilding. The gate was built to help protect the camp.”

She kept quiet after that. She saw the map Marlen had. She didn’t remember there being a map of the camp. She wouldn’t worry about it and just followed Marlen.

”That’s rough, man,” Marlen commented, seeming to know exactly where they were going. ”Never seen anything like that myself, but I can fix stuff if someone’s hurt. Y’know, Apollo and such.”

They were walking in a straight line towards the cabins. ”I bet I can figure the rest of this out myself, if you’re busy.”

Iliana was glad they were willing to help out. That was a good sign for sure. Once he mentioned he was going to be okay from here, Iliana nodded her head.

”All right. Oh, there is a New Years party tonight. I forget where it’ll be but I wanted to make you aware if you decided to go. I am trying to be more social so I’ll be going. For how long will be the question. It was nice meeting you Marlen. Hope you find yourself a decent cabin.”

With that, Iliana smiled and waved before departing.

”Yeah. Thanks…”

Marlen watched her skip off and looked down at their map…

…They were definitely sleeping in a tree tonight.

Young Justice

One of the things Jessica Cruz had told Pei to try was something called ‘mindfulness exercises’. As such, she was sitting cross legged on the floor of the training area, in a full training get up, staring so hard at a bowl of raisins it looked like her eyes might explode.

”...Pei, what the fuck are you doing?”

Cora walked in, not floated in, holding a metal water bottle full of something that was absolutely not water, or safe for normal humans to consume. She had training stuff on, too.

Exasperated, Pei threw out her hands and feet and fell onto her back like she was making snow angels. ”Ugh!”

She grabbed her pink hair. ”I don’t know! I’m being mindful! The raisins make me a better person. If I stare at the raisins long enough, I get a Green Lantern ring.” Pei said.

Cora burst out laughing, nearly choking on the vile concoction she was drinking. ”What? That- No, Pei- What? Aren’t you supposed to eat them?” She walked over and grabbed a raisin out of the bowl, committing what could’ve been an act of sacrilege in mockery of the Green Lanterns.

As Cora approached, Pei picked up the bowl with her foot and lifted it to meet her. ”Help yourself. I’m giving the fuck up for today. I can’t explain how she put it. Some shit like…” She waved the bowl around before setting it down. ”Examine the mundane in a new way or something… I already did taste, that was the easy part. Then touch and smell. Sight I’m stumped on. Let along hearing.” She was still layed on the gym floor.

”Who’s “she?” Sounds like you’ve been hanging around Daphne when she was on something special…” Cora grabbed the bowl. ”I don’t think staring at a bowl of raisins is gonna get you into space. I would’ve tried that already, if it worked.”

”Jessica Cruz. My temp mentor, a Green Lantern. She told me a whole buncha shit but I was, I was too nervous to remember most of it.” She facepalms.

Cora made a snrk sound. ”Reasonable reaction. Static helped me build stuff, and figure out power things. Raisins were not involved. Maybe I should’ve asked…”
”That’s so cool. Static’s so cool. He’s a real inspiration. One day I’m gonna go back to Coast City and kick so much ass. I’ll have my own rogue’s gallery.” Pei said wistfully.

”Green Lantern probably gave me some good advice. It’s just…how the fuck do you get more ‘willpower’? More ‘mindfulness’? By finding meaning in staring at raisins, probably. Powers and building stuff is way more obviously useful, y’know.” Pei said.

”Well… I don’t know how they do it.” Cora took a contemplative sip from her bottle which was labelled “Battery acid.” ”But I’ve been taken out by my own powers once or twice. You ever have trouble lifting your own hand up in the morning because there’s nothing there to move it with?”

Pei shrugs on the ground. ”Haha, no. It’s okay, though, Cora. I heard what happened. She snuck up on you, you zapped yourself. It happens.” She said, assuming the aftermath of Cora being in the wheelchair was what she was referring to.

”Point being, you don’t really learn how to do stuff, no matter how much you can’t, by not needing to, I think. I think you need to end up in some real shitty place for that. It’s not nothing you just figure out.”

It took hours for Cora just to sit up, after she fried herself. The next few days, it stung just to float an inch off the ground. It sucked.

”...Wah?” Pei asked, genuinely confused.

”Okay, okay,” Cora made a waving gesture with her battery acid. ”So… When I was lying in bed feeling like death? It was hard to do literally anything. Green Lanterns do hard stuff every day. They didn’t start that way, you know? They’ve probably had so many bad days, the worst ones are stuff we’ve never gone through. That’s how they got good at the willpower thing.”

”Yeah, maybe.” She says. ”But I think the raisin test has something to do with it.”

”What are ya drinkin’? Battery acid?” She asks.

”Something like it.” It smelled like battery acid. ”Half a gram of salt and potassium, plus some other stuff. The rest is mostly just water. It’s a power thing.”

”Like, it gives you powers?” She asks with a tilt of her head. Still laying on the floor.

”No… Humans are mostly water, but water is a really bad conductor of electricity. So that’s what this stuff is for.”

”I guess?” Pei says with a little laugh and a raise of an eyebrow.

”And water stops being water when it’s electrocuted. So this hopefully helps me not fry myself more the next time I have to zap something. Static helped, but I can probably do more.”

”Don’t think I ever had that problem. Sounds unlucky.” Pei scratches the side of her head. ”So, what? Does it…hurt? When you use your powers? You zap yourself?”

Cora shrugged. ”Kind of. Not at first, but the more I do it, the worse it gets. The lightning comes out of me, it electrocutes me. If you zapped me with anything normal, like a taser? I wouldn’t feel it. My powers aren’t normal electricity, though.”

Pei clasps her hands together over her midsection. ”Huh! Well I’m glad Static helped. I’d hate for you to be hurting yourself on our missions, y’know?” She said.

She stammered a bit. ”I mean- y’know- hurting yourself as just a matter of course. Rather than extreme circumstances that can be avoided.”

”Yeah.” Cora didn’t really want to get too into all that. She had a feeling Pei would get on her ass about it if she knew the rest.

”I’m pretty sure stuff like that isn’t going to happen again,” she said.

”We just gotta watch each other’s backs, is all.” She performed a kip-up maneuver to her feet and moved to sling her arm around Cora’s shoulders. ”Team tactics. Cool as ice. Hot as lightning.”

”Hot as-“ Cora blinked. ”Uh- I mean…” She completely misinterpreted that.

”Hot as lightning. We’re cool. Remember I said we should look out for each other?” Pei jostled Cora lightly.

”Yeah, you did say that.” Stop being a dumbass, holy shit. She did NOT just call you hot.

”…I completely forgot what I walked in here for.”

”Well it definitely wasn’t training.” Pei teased, grabbing Cora’s arm and trying to circle it with her finger and thumb.

”Well- Um.” This escalated quickly. ”I guess not.” Cora was still slightly sore in a lot of places, after she exploded in the swamp. But that didn’t hurt, weirdly enough.

She very awkwardly took another sip from her battery acid. A long one.

”Look, see? It practically goes all the way around. Super heroes need super training. I could be your spotter!” Pei exclaimed.

”Oh- Right. I don’t usually do anything intense enough to need one,” Cora said. ”I’m skin and bone, I mostly just run on a treadmill or spar with someone if they’re around.”

”Never too late to pump it up!” Pei declared. ”But that’s okay. I’ve done all my raisin training for the day. So I guess unless you really want to shoot lightning at me I can call it a day and leave the gym to you?” Pei detached from Cora and shot a couple of finger guns at her.

”I think that would probably kill you, actually.” Cora sat her battery acid on the ground against the wall. ”I’m surprised it didn’t kill me.”

”Well, obviously you wouldn’t blast me full force with lightning.” Pei said with a good natured roll of her eyes.

”Doesn’t have to be full force to kill someone. Nah, I’ll blast something else. Like a target or something.”

”I’ve seen you use lightning on bad guys before. You’re just trying to seem cool. Well, for your information, ice powers can also be pretty dangerous.” Pei says, crossing her arms and wiggling her head.

Cora shrugged. ”I thought I was cool.”

”Oh-ho, believe me, I can tell.” Pei said cheekily, leaning towards Cora with a toothy grin.

”…Yeah.” Cora was doing that thing people did where their eyes went left and right constantly, but it just looked like she was staring right into Pei’s.

”I’m gonna… Go do that thing, now.”

Pei hopped up, standing up straight, giving Cora a reassuring pat on the shoulder. ”I’ll leave ya to it! See you later, I’m done trying hard today so I’m gonna go find something to fuck with. Bye bye!” She waved, turned, and transitioned her quick walk into a happy little skip as she left the room, leaving Cora alone with a bowl of raisins.

”Heh. Yeah.”

When Pei was gone, Cora looked down at the bowl of raisins. And she felt confused.

”Was she hitting on me?”

Young Justice

How the hell was she going to handle this?

If Black Canary was right, maybe just talking about this whole thing was enough to make it worse for all three of them. But still, Cora was really fucking glad that Metamorph was back. There were three different ways she was thinking this could go. Kila would probably just give it to her straight, Ja was Ja… She wasn’t familiar with the third guy yet.

For the first time in a few days, Cora floated instead of walked, making her way down a hall where their room was. That was deliberate, so if they were actually down here, they’d hopefully notice that Cora was around and not get startled. She didn’t want that, even if she wasn’t giving off as much energy after that day with Static.

And she hovered outside his door for a moment, before knocking.

”Hey… Anyone home?”

”Not in there,” His voice came from several feet behind her. The young lion walked down the hall with a guitar case slung over his shoulder. His expression was calm and alert, though his mind still seemed to be elsewhere as his brown eyes regarded her.

”Do you need my help with something?”

”Nope. Sorta the opposite,” She answered. ”I’ve been pretty worried about everyone lately, and I just wanted to talk. If you’re not busy.”

He eyed his door for a moment, debating with himself…or at least this currently in control version of himself. He’d been doing his best to keep his emotions at bay, and for the most part it has been successful. The base had many distractions, and Kassy helped move miniature mountains of tension.

Still, it wouldn’t help to keep it away from the others indefinitely. From prior memory, he remembered Cora to be an empathetic soul, if not kind. There surely wouldn’t be an undercurrent of confrontation in talking to her. With the decision made, he shook his head.

”It’s fine, I am not busy.” Was his answer, though waving his hand to follow past his room to the lounge area.

He opted for a more open area as, really, he was trying to avoid the narrative of being some sort of problematic enigma to the newer members of their squad. Granted, the savannah son didn’t anticipate any of the others coming to interject on their conversation anyway. He found a chair nearest to one of the windows and set his case beside him.

”You have questions…?”

”Yeah.” She floated to the ground and tilted backwards, rocking back and forth on her feet. ”Are you guys okay?” She asked as if all three of them were standing next to each other, in separate bodies.

Kila’s head leaned to the side in contemplation. ”Honestly, I am not sure. I feel physically healthy, but I’m sure that’s not what you’re asking.” He started, but paused to open his guitar case. Inside was…what looked like the framework of a guitar to the untrained eye. Though one simple question would lead to the answer of it being a Yamaha ‘silent’ guitar. His nails tapped a few of the strings before he continued.

”My mind is more or less scattered. It is as though my thoughts are like the stars in the sky; right there where I could see them, but almost impossible to reach. Between my DID discovery, and how to address a certain betrayal, I’ve simply been trying to exist…How are you recovering?”

”Getting there. I can fly without feeling like I’m being rotated in a microwave again,” Cora answered. ”Not sitting still helps, makes it harder to stand back if I sit around too long.”

The young lion nodded, beginning to play along to a song that had been stuck in his head for several days. ”I haven’t exactly gotten around to everyone to apologize for putting you all at risk during that mission. If I didn’t take the bait, perhaps they wouldn’t have engaged the way that they did.”

”I think everyone was about as pissed at each other as they were at you, really. Everyone was mad for one reason or another, but you did what you had to do, Kila. If you weren’t gonna fall for it, it wasn’t gonna happen. And you wouldn’t have gone if you didn’t have some plan in mind for getting back, right?”

”For once…I didn’t. As ironic as this now sounds, I’d say that I wasn’t really in my right mind. I wasn’t sure who they were sending, and part of me feared that I was already too late. Where I come from, we were trained to hunt other metahumans…I was originally going to just warn you all and get out. But then I saw you knocked out and Vincent getting overwhelmed.—“ He misplayed a few notes, retracting his strumming fingers to recompose himself and begin again.

”...Can’t be prepared for everything.” It complicated things when she went nuclear out there. They had to retrieve her, they didn’t know what was wrong. She could’ve helped Vincent if she found another way to get free.

”No one’s dead, we’re all back together. We know better now. We can make sure it happens less in the future.”

”That’s true…Failure is our greatest teacher. We would just have to be willing students…”

Cora nodded in a sagely way. ”Speaking of that, do you remember hearing anything weird back at the bank mission? The third guy came out near the end and- We were all talking and I noticed it might have had something to do with a sound gun I picked up after it was over.”

That seemed to give him pause, even pressing his palm against the strings to mute them. Did he hear anything strange? Not necessarily. But the sound gun that she mentioned gave him an indication of something. This ‘third guy’, referring to this side of himself that was not ‘Ja’, possibly having something to do with a sound gun…a trigger perhaps? He hadn’t considered it, but it was feasible…but why—?

”I did not…Though I was shot with one of the sound weapons, except, I don’t recall being hit with concussive force. I thought that I knocked out the thief that held the hostages but then I suddenly felt a pain in my head and blacked out.”

”That’s… Yeah. He was found, you weren’t at the wheel anymore. He went off on those guys, and none of them were killed but it wasn’t pretty. That sound gun was found near him. I don’t think he likes me after I flashbanged him at the harbor.”

She fidgeted. ”Ja, the one we all actually know, he has animal powers if you didn’t know that yet. He can pick one and do something it does. He runs real fast like a horse, hears things humans can’t but dogs can… The frequency on that gun’s high enough we can’t hear it. But you were able to, which- I didn’t know you could do stuff like that.”

Kila rested his wrist against the frame thoughtfully.

”I am aware of that at least. All my life I have grown up hearing about what I should be capable of…even after that mission. Despite having some odd lucid dream sort of influence to keep from killing them, Pei still saw to it that I was scolded for my actions…

Though from what you are explaining to me, this occurrence wasn’t a natural reaction from my instinctive side. I saw what happened when those weapons fired at the others, the destroyed infrastructure and your, albeit small, injuries…It would mean it was a provocation…but…” He gripped the guitar frame a little more tightly, staring a hole into the floor.

”I was never free…They…she never stopped hunting me…”

”She? Who’s she?”

The young lion blinked, silently shifting in place to recompose himself. With a deep breath, he shook his head.

”Someone that used to look after me. I have one mother but many aunts, is how I will phrase it…There was a tracking device from Buredunia that I found and destroyed before I came to warn you all on the last mission. It was how I figured out that the mission was a trap. What I fear is how long it was there.”

That didn’t sound good. ”…There probably isn't a way to tell if it’s destroyed, yeah. You could maybe trace its signal back to where it was transmitted to, and then break into a system on that end. But- Yeah.”

Unless… ”Well, actually, I haven’t been able to put a lid on the interference stuff I give off until recently. So… If you found the tracker in a place I walk past a lot, maybe that means it wasn’t there for long?” She suggested. It was a stretch, but she was spitballing. ”Since I haven’t been here that long, and if I didn’t fry it, that means it was pretty sturdy. I know that probably sounds ridiculous, but that’s about all I can think of. Where’d you find it?”

Kila looked out the window. ”The strains of promethium used by Buredunia vary with the equipment they give us. Most typically the trackers, from what I understand, don’t transmit a constant signal, but more of a radar every so often. Otherwise, it is off, so as to keep from arousing suspicion.

It is less likely that you would have blown it just from your presence, as it is designed to endure surges up to a certain limit. It was designed with meta-humans in mind…The only reason I discovered it was because it was attached to Iwi—“ He cut himself off and paused. Not now. Saying her name hurt, now that he knew what he knew… Breathe, try again. He looked at his fingers against the guitar’s frets and started playing again.

”…the gold colored bands of promethium that I wear as part of my uniform. They mean a lot to me, so I maintain them as best as I can…With that said, I threw the tracker into the ocean while I was on my way to all of you.

”Promethium… Yeah, I dunno,” she admitted. ”It’s in the past now. It’s not your fault for falling for it. I would’ve fallen for it too, if I was stuck here and all of you were in danger. That’s not being weak, that's just being human.”

Kila nodded his head appreciatively. For a little while, he kept quiet while playing, occasionally swaying his head to the melody.

Cora listened quietly for a bit. He was good at that.

”…If you want, I think I remember where I put that sound gun,” Cora suggested. ”You don’t have to, but if we ever run into something like that again, I figured you’d maybe wanna know what it is so you aren’t surprised again. I’ve been meaning to take it apart, anyway.”

As the song reached its conclusion, his eyes wandered from left to right across the floor contemplatively. At first there was unease, but Kila’s music paired with talking through all of those suspicions and musings helped to recenter him. It was more weight lifted from his shoulders, which prompted him to look up to the one to help him lift it. A corner of his lip became a smile and he put his guitar back into his case.

”I think it is about time I see it…and, so it is not lost, I’m grateful for this talk you came to have with me.”

[Cancelled]

deez

---

You already know what the fuck boutta happen

Camp Athens - Closed

Azariah got herself a map and listened in on everything the woman called Andromeda had to say. Food, magic cabins, apparently someone was around here who felt like they had authority… The usual. Well, about as usual as a bunch of demigods holed up somewhere in the woods could possibly be. It was a pretty quick announcement, really. She made a mental note to keep an eye out for this “surfer dude” to see how easy he was to irritate, vex, inconvenience or otherwise irk in some amusing way.

The backpack hanging off of Azariah’s shoulders unzipped itself open, and the map floated inside, before it magically zipped itself back up. She’d pick a cabin later. Right now, she was curious about this other stuff that Andromeda had mentioned, so she walked towards the doors back outside.

She heard a commotion outside, and got curious enough to go looking for someone to pester.

(here’s Blair’s random shit to toss wherever lol)
Blair looked over toward the entrance where a raven hair girl looked a little worse for wear. She grimaced watching her wipe snot on her sleeve… and was that in her mouth? Gross. "Unless you consider getting munched on by a cannibal horse fun, then it’s Pee-Wee’s playhouse," she replied with a droll sarcastic tone. "I fucking hate it here, being perfectly honest. But the boys…" She added, turning her attention back to Osée. "Do make up for some of its less than stellar qualities."

No sooner had Rosalia processed the response to her rhetorical remark than the “boy” in question suggested with a little smile, [i]"The Mamsel here may be in more need of your rarely offered help. I am thinking we should be finding at the least a coffee, perhaps something to eat."

Rosalia shook her head firmly. She let out a strained, breathy sigh, and simply responded, “Right, maybe I’ll join you once I’ve gotten settled…and freshened up.”

As she grasped her other suitcase’s handle and went to move, another voice weighed in.

”And here I went and hoped that a place with this many godly children prancing around would be more than a camp full of pretty faces.”

She came around the bend and saw a few women standing there by the entrance. One in sunglasses looked to be in rough shape.

”You look like you walked the entire way here,” She commented. As if there was a bus that took Azariah here. ”I just got here too. Let me help you with that…”

Azariah tapped her magical staff against the snowy ground and flicked a finger in the direction of Rosalia’s bags, causing them to start floating as if it were light as a feather. The other one with even more luggage probably had a way to sort that out somewhere in there.

”Magic makes things like that easier.”

Rosalia tightened her grip on the handles of her suitcases and squinted to get a good look at the woman offering her help. Magic. Rosalia had seen it herself—she’d done something of the sort herself—and yet the entire thing still felt surreal, even patently ridiculous.

“Thank you,” she wheezed. Her mouth drew into a tight-lipped smile as she took a final deep breath through her nose. Just as quickly, her smile faltered and muddled into something of a concerned frown. She released her grip on her suitcases.

“You mean y’all ain’t walked here?” she groaned, already anticipating an answer she wasn’t expecting to like, “I had to shlep my bags all over creation. Had to. My…uh…guide to get here was in paces.”

”I took a plane to get here, first,” she answered. ”Then I walked. It’s a lot easier when you aren’t carrying an entire house on your back.” Azariah only had one backpack, and no suitcases. It was easy to get here.

Rosalia nodded along. Her mouth pulled to the side in a little frown.

“Yeah, I flew too,” she replied, “It’s the part afterwards that sucked. My understanding was that we were gonna be here a while. So it was either take this with me or pitch it, ‘cus my folks’re gonna repurpose my room now I’m gone.”

Rosalia shrugged, and started moving forwards with her newly lightened load.

“No undoin’ it now, anyway,” she conceded, “Either way, I gotta get to Cabin 38 so I can set this down and get myself cleaned up. Hopefully they got the water pressure how I asked…”

”I don’t know where that is, but I do have a map… Want to walk there?” Azariah asked. ”I need to find my own cabin anyway.”

Rosalia nodded gently.

“Yes, I’d appreciate that…”

She clicked her tongue, and added, “Thank you again. My name’s Rosalia, by the way. Nice to meet you.”

”Azariah. Kid of Hecate, if that matters.”

She waved her magical staff around, and the floating luggage started drifting forward. Azariah turned around on her heel and started walking off into the distance where many unclaimed cabins lay.

”So… God camp. I wonder how many of these demigods are happy to be here.”

Rosalia sighed. “Wouldn’t know,” she responded, “Probably depends on if the others are better parents than Zeus, if I had to guess. I had to fuss at his messenger to get any kind of useful instructions.”

”Instructions?” Azariah smirked. ”The most I was given was a hint that something interesting would be happening in a certain direction. I wasn’t even told what.” Hecate was mysterious like that.

Rosalia let out an amused snort.

“Tried pulling that shit with me too. I wouldn’t let it go till I had the details. Probably why they made me walk, though. Seems like some folks hardly had to,” she mused.

”I guess not. Though… You would think they could have just had one of the gods’ children come to everyone. It would’ve been much easier and more believable, that way.”

Azariah wasn’t sure, but she could imagine that a lot of the demigods didn’t know they were demigods until recently. She knew her whole life, but it might not have been the same for everyone else.

Rosalia was quiet for a moment as they proceeded on, taking in her first look at the camp intently. She furrowed her brow.

“Nothing about this is believable. If I didn’t have the proof in my own bones, I wouldn’t believe it,” she commented.

”By the time I was 15, Hecate had already appeared in the woods and told me everything,” Azariah noted. ”Sometimes, the only difference between what is and isn’t true is who you’re asking. I used to think gods were just a myth, but then, one day, I was running through the woods on four legs instead of two.”

Rosalia shook her head with a little smile.

“I reckon it’s gon’ be a while ‘fore I run out of new things to see,” she chuckled, “So, she tell you if there are any other gods than the Greek ones?”

”Hecate barely tells me anything. She only comes and gives me enough to figure it out myself, and then leaves me to do just that. If there are, I wouldn’t know.”

“Because why would we need to know!” Rosalia exclaimed, “Almost as bad as the capital-G God with these ineffable plans, Lord’ve mercy!”

Rosalia pulled her phone from her coat pocket and pulled off one of her gloves. Fumbling with it briefly, she finally pulled up a scan of a map of campus, not unlike those available near the entrance.

“You wouldn’t believe how much fussin’ I needed to throw at Zeus’ guy to get an idea of where I was supposed to be. Hope they listened to me when I asked.”

She clicked her tongue, and took a scanning look around.

“Should…be…right over there,” she drawled, pointing her phone towards a path. She looked to Azariah again.

“I think I got it from here. I don’t wanna keep ya from getting unpacked.”

”I don’t think I’ll be getting unpacked just yet, anyway,” Azariah said. Rosalia’s things floated forward ahead of them both, and Azariah took a step backwards. ”I’m going to go explore and see if anything interesting is going on.”

Rosalia nodded and went for her things. She plucked her bags from the air and pulled them back on, one by one.

“Well I hope you find what you’re lookin’ for,” Rosalia responded. She pulled her suitcases in towards herself, and started on her way.

“I gotta get myself set up before anything else. So thank you, Azariah, I really do appreciate it,” Rosalia concluded.

”Not a problem.”

That wasn’t the same voice Azariah just had. In fact, that also wasn’t the same body she had either.

When Rosalia wasn’t looking, Azariah suddenly became a taller male. He was still wearing the same clothes, still holding the staff. His hair was much shorter now, and his voice had gotten deeper.

”I’ll be around.”

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

A Rock and a Hard Place

---

It had been only three months now, since Leah enrolled in this school and blended in with normal people. It had been… interesting, in a way. They gave her a specific set of clothes she had to wear like a lot of the schools only rich kids went to. Leah had to give the school demonstrations with her earth powers and her strength, which she displayed by beating the shit out of robotic test dummies. They had asked her about how she learned to fight like that, since she tore one’s head clean off with a high kick, and she didn’t give them a real answer.

It was enough that someone decided Leah didn’t necessarily need a beginner’s course in combat, but could still benefit from learning from “official” instructors. So she was put in a group of people her age who had, for the most part, never thrown a punch in their lives. One absolute twink of a boy flinched every time someone went for his face, it was painful to watch. But eventually, she stopped being the only one among them capable of some amount of fighting.

And this was the part of it that Leah really didn’t like.

A few times a week, the whole class was lined up, and their teacher would pick someone at random. They’d pick someone to fight, and the whole class would watch to “learn” from them.

He picked that bitchy blonde who always looked too fragile to even be here, today.

The bitchy blonde in question was Sabine.

Full of anger and condemnation for the world at large, Sabine’s time at school started on a rough note. She made it everyone’s problem. Despite how good she was in the classwork she would often make remarks to the teachers, to other students, even to those she was considered a friend to. Sabine felt the icy chill in her veins, the same feeling each time she was accused of doing something she never would. Her mother made sure she understood the risks, but now she was gone. And despite her father being alive, he was gone too.

She didn’t care if people disliked her. People already judged her so she may as well lean into the villain she was painted out to be.

She watched in classes, seeing others fight over and over again. She knew she was not physically the strongest, but she was damn sure she surpassed everyone else in intelligence. So when she was picked to fight in class, she stood in front of her target.

She knew very little about the girl in front of her apart from her hair looking ratty and unkempt, much like her overall demeanor. Despite this, Sabine knew the girl could hold her own. There was anger behind her fists. So Sabine knew the battle started even before the first punch was thrown.

”Excuse me, but could you maybe pick someone else? It seems like life has already beaten her down to a pulp and I would feel just so guilty if I made it worse than it already was for her.” The intention being: knock her down first.

”Did anyone ask, you stupid bitch?” Leah spat. ”You don’t even belong here… I’m picking her.”

Leah was sick of her shit. The rich girl always had some bitchy comment or look to give her, always had more makeup plastered on her face than personality in her brain. She walked over to the space where fights happened and gave Sabine a death glare.

”Get over here. Now.”

”That’s the difference between you and me. Leaders don’t wait to be asked. They just do. But sure, scream into the void what a bitch I am. Only makes you look weak.” Sabine strode forward to the space she needed to stand in. ”Never mind. I’ll gladly take part in this, if for no other reason than to put the garbage where it belongs.”

She clenched and unclenched her fists. Sabine met Leah’s glare with her own. ”Bring it on, dirt.”

”Dirt?”

Leah angled her arm into a ninety-degree angle, and made a fist. A piece of the floor tore itself open, as a rock shot out, appearing in front of Sabine’s face.

”Fine.”

The rock exploded on a molecular level, turning into a small cloud of dust to cake Sabine’s face.

She wanted dirt, she got dirt.

As the dirt hit her face, Sabine shut her mouth for once, letting the debris cake her. She had asked for it. Sabine opened her eyes and wiped some of if off with her hand. She nodded. ”Cute. My turn.”

Sabine launched her psyche into Leah’s mind. There was an intense emotional block, but Sabien found anger easy to get through because the brain was going a mile a minute. Once she got through Sabine picked a memory at random, one that seemed to be on the top of Leah’s mind.

And, for a moment, Sabine hesitated. But she got through it. The bitch wanted a fight, she would give her a fight.

Sabine amplified the memory; the moment Leah heard the gunshot that took her mom. She increased the sound, having it echo throughout the memory. She added a voice. ”It’s your fault. Your fault she died. You could have saved her but you are too weak. Your own mother. Pitiful. Weak. A monster. You are a monster!” The words would play through Leah’s mind.

Sabine pulled back out, letting the memory take control for however long. Sabine prepared for retaliation.

Leah went inside herself, closing off the world for a second. On the outside, it looked like she just blinked and didn’t react… Until her face slowly twisted into a scowl.

The floor rumbled, and there was a snap. Leah rushed her down, pushing off the floor and leaving a dent in it. She got in Sabine’s face like a dog going after a cat, dropped low, and swung an uppercut at the sassy fucker’s jaw.

How fucking dare she bring that shit back up?

”Fuck you!”

Sabine arched back, avoiding the uppercut but falling flat on her ass. She scrambled quickly, getting back in Leah’s face. ”What, you get to fling dirt around but I can’t? Mine just happened to be better. If you can’t handle your own trauma what good are you?” Yeah, big talk Sabine, pull the other leg now.

”Count yourself lucky that’s all I did. You just need a therapy session and you’ll be all right I could have permanently bedridden you while you eat mashed potatoes out of a tube. So step off with this bullshit pretending you know what you are doing. You’re lower than worthless, how the hell did you even get into this school?”

The answer to that was a falling elbow aimed directly at Sabine’s diaphragm.

”I fucking chose this, you idiot,” Leah answered. ”You probably wouldn’t come here unless your fucking rich dad paid someone to let you in.”

Sabine felt the wind knock out of her as Leah elbowed her. Sabine started coughing, grasping at her throat as Leah started screaming at her. She barely heard a word though she did catch that last bit.

Sabine took a breath and, once she was able to do so fully, stood back up, cocked her fist, and punched Leah in the eye.

And it hurt like a bitch. But if it hurt Leah, it was worth it.

She rubbed her now bruised hand, but she pressed on. ”I auditioned, same as you. The difference being I’m not a scholarship applicant, one the faculty took pity on. Hell, maybe use you in advertisements. ‘If we can accept her, we can accept anyone.’”

Leah had rolled over and, with muscle memory, gotten to her feet while basically blinded by a punch to the soft parts of her face. It was a miracle the bitch didn’t lose her hand by hitting her hair.

Leah swung both her arms upwards in a table-flipping motion. The spot on the ground where Sabine was laying shot upwards, with the intent to springboard the fuck out of her.

”It doesn’t even cost fucking money to go here, are you fucking stupid?!”

Sabine felt her feet lift as the earth beneath her shot upward, sending her flying backward, landing on her back. Not only did her hand hurt, but now her upper back was throbbing. ”All the more reason you’re a pity applicant! No one in their right mind would have you here.” Sabine launched her psyche back in to Leah, this time instead of grabbing a memory she wanted to do as much damage as possible. If she couldn’t beat her from the outside, she would do so from the inside.

Sabine let out a psychic burst, intending to cause a massive migraine headache, a ringing in Leah’s ears that wouldn’t go away quickly. Anything she could hold on to to break her was up for grabs.

Leah clenched her head and wailed like an animal that just had its leg broken. Her head throbbed, her vision started blurring. This bitch was one of those telepathic assholes that played with minds and didn’t actually fight back.

With a growl, she stomped the floor and caused a miniature earthquake that shook the whole room. It sounded like a fighter jet was roaring over their heads.

Sabine and the other students, the teacher, all felt the rumble beneath their feet. Some fell over while others braced. Sabine fell to the ground on her knees as the mini earthquake erupted. She knew she was hurting Leah, but Leah was holding out. Sabine tried not to be impressed, but couldn’t. Leah was strong.

Sabine let go of the psychic hold she had on Leah and stood up. ”There’s no need for collateral damage.” It was clear Leah outmatched her in physical strength, but Sabine was sure her mental aptitude was far beyond Leah’s. Almost equals. Possibly friends if life experiences happened another way.

”I’ll yield if you do.” Sabine took some deep breaths. She wouldn’t admit it, but this was a lot of fun for her. No one ever challenged her before. But she wouldn’t admit it. Not to her.

Leah’s face was a scowl.

Who did this bitch think she was? Digging up those memories that Leah had tried to bury, then acting high and mighty and wanting a fucking draw?

She stomped over to her and drove an elbow into the blonde girl’s jaw.

”Fuck you. I win, it’s over.”

And the teacher immediately got between them about it, calling Leah’s behavior unacceptable and unheroic. As if that mattered.

Sabine wasn’t surprised. She knew the fight would have ended with both of them exhausted, beaten down, and possibly in need of medical and psychiatric care. So when Leah ran over and decked her she knew it was coming from a place of genuine anger.

Sabine knew. She saw Leah’s memories. She knew Leah was hurting and she pulled on that string. She didn’t feel bad about it. She was challenged to a fight and she used what was at her disposal.

Sabine took a beat, took a breath, and stood up.

She wiped the blood off the side of her mouth. She would be bruised. ”Fine. You win. Enjoy the hollow victory.” She looked at the teacher and nodded, signifying she was all right. ”After all, a villain isn’t going to just give up. They are going to do whatever they can to bring the hero down. Like, for example, concede defeat and let the hero beat them. Let that one person punch them as they stand there and admit they lost. Imagine what that looks like, to see someone you think of as a hero beat down someone willingly accepting the loss. Well, that person would be a monster, wouldn’t they?”

Sabine cracked her neck. ”Seems I am in need of a cold compress or something. I would get something for that eye also. I’ll go to the nurse’s office.” Sabine turned and started to walk away. But she stopped and turned to face Leah again. ”I had it right, you are a monster.”

Being petty, Leah stomped the floor and made a chunk of stone fly up to smack Sabine over the head.

”I’m not the one who fucks with brains, bitch.”

Sabine felt the rock collide. It hurt, again. She took another breath. ”Are you quite sure about that?” And she continued to walk, leaving Leah to sit in her feelings.

And she had a lot of them.

She stood there in the middle of the room, surrounded by others who were watching in shock or dismay at how disordered the fight was. Leah had a mean, unheroic look on her face. Sabine was right, she wasn’t much of a hero if this was how she handled petty shit like that. She wasn’t much of a hero if she responded to a surrender with a punch to the face.

And she was right about what she saw, too. It was Leah’s fault.

The teacher was giving her a look.

”Yeah. I’ll fix it.”

✨ Under Black Stars ✨

It wasn't approval that Jack looked down at her with. Or, if it was, it was so damn difficult to tell. Jack's face was always hard to read, and he usually only conveyed things vocally, and not with body language. He showed love through the things he did, more than what he expressed.

And he simply nodded. "You have advanced more quickly than I did, when I was your age. You've done well for now, child. Rest. The world will be here when you wake."

His silhouette blurred against the dark room, until he was just a faint imprint on her vision. Jack disappeared, and the day was over.

When it began again, Nochalla pattered up the stairs and around the corner. The house was bigger indoors than what it appeared to be outdoors; There were doors and angles in hallways that weren't always present, like old remnants of shapes it had been configured into in the past. The cat, with its three eyes, had a way of seeing all these shapes at once. She never got lost, she never got caught of guard. It was easy for her to get around because of this, easy for her to seemingly appear anywhere in this house with the same ease as its human master.

Nochalla scampered down the hallway past doors as she'd done countless times before. But then she stopped.

Creak.

A small noise, something only her feline ears could pick up. It wasn't Jack's favorite chair in the study, he was in the kitchen. It wasn't Annika tossing around in bed, because Jack made sure she was at ease last night. It made her ears twitch.

In Annika's room, Nochalla sat on the girl's chest, pawing at her face to wake her up.

"Mreh," said the three-eyed cat.