Son of the Harvest Goddess [OPEN]

[Rowan Clay]

Image training was important for Rowan. He had not once been on a quest, or even left camp, since arriving over two years prior. He had very little to return to, and the rural area he called home was dangerous for him and others, since it was generally the larger, more dangerous monsters who stayed away from cities and populated the countryside. All he could do by going home was make his father and neighbors into targets. And while he could go into the forest to hunt real monsters, Rowan needed to train away from there as much as he could. He had far too great an advantage in forested areas, where the trees would bend to his instincts. Unlike most children of Demeter, whose domain resided in the tame plants that were grown by hand, Rowan was much more specialized. He was only able to utilize his power over plants for combat purposes, but when it came to the manipulation of wood, living or dead, he could control even the wild trees that were normally outside of Demeter's domain. The forest gave him way too much to work with.

So he was forced to combat imaginary enemies most of the time, which wasn't ideal, but it was better than nothing. Occasionally, he could get some of the other campers to fight—the Ares cabin was usually good for this—but that still left him woefully untrained against monsters.

He currently stood in the arena, eyes envisioning a massive minotaur in front of him, in place of the simple practice dummy. In his left hand, he carried a carved wooden spear, a simple, long oak branch from the forest, shaped and sharpened by his powers. He had half a dozen of them under his bed in the cabin, and despite his power over wood, they broke quite often. At his right hip, ready to be drawn by his left hand in an instant, was a white oak bokken, a Japanese-style wooden sword meant to be used in place of real swords for several forms of martial arts. It was easily the most expensive thing he'd ever owned, and he took good care of it, using it as his primary weapon these days. And strapped to his back was the hand-carved walking staff he'd brought from home, his oldest and most reliable weapon. Greek letters were carved all over the simple length of hickory wood, and perhaps because he'd had it for nearly a decade, the staff responded to his powers better than anything else. Last, there was a wooden ring around the middle finger of his right hand that could grow into a longbow at will. Dangling from his left hip was a quiver with arrows, positioned to allow Rowan to easily draw them cowboy-style into the bow.

He raised the spear over his head and took short hops forward, before converting that movement into torque by planting his feet as his arm swung forward and let the spear loose at the fake minotaur.

Harder. Heavier.

At his mental commands, the spear that he'd thrown took on new properties, becoming denser, tougher. The added weight didn't affect the flight speed or trajectory. He had aimed well and thrown hard, the body of a lifelong farmer having given him a layer of powerful muscles, particularly his arms, back and chest.

By the time the spear hit the oversized training dummy, the weight had increased by nearly a hundred pounds, and the spear was hard enough that it didn't shatter from the force of its own hit. Instead, there was a loud cracking noise as the spear landed dead-center in the chest of the dummy and snapped the pole in half with the force of impact. The dummy's head, shoulders and arms came loose with the broken portion of the pole, and it all fell over backwards rather dramatically.

See, this was why only Ares kids wanted to fight him most of the time.

[Daphne Scotts]

She had to be better. She has been slacking.

Between the aftermath of the quest and Marius breaking up with her, Daphne hadn't been training with her sword and her title of best sword fighter went to someone else. And that was not something she was okay with. So she trained and eventually claimed her title back.

And she was making sure that it wasn't taken from her again. So she trained every day in the arena for long hours. It wasn't like she had a boyfriend or siblings or friends to take up her time, so she trained. On this particular day, she was only a couple of dummies away from the Demeter boy. She was working on her footwork and her technique. She couldn't be sloppy. That's how titles were lost.

But she hit the dummy with her sword as she heard a deafening crack of a destroyed dummy. She stopped dead in her tracks as she stared at her dummy for a moment. It was in one piece. She glanced to the side and her eyes widened. She'd seen damage done to dummies before and she'd never seen damage like this. It was in multiple pieces on the ground.

She looked at the boy as she straightened up and sheathed her sword. “Do I want to know what that dummy did to you to deserve that treatment?” she asked as she crossed her arms over her chest as she approached him.

[Rowan Clay]

Rowan walked over to the dummy and gripped the spear in his hand. The wood responded to his touch immediately, returning to its normal weight as he pulled it out of what was left of the training dummy. It did, however, stay as hard as steel. That was, generally speaking, always a welcome attribute for the warrior's weapons. Tough enough to face Celestial bronze, but as light as regular wood, gave him a big advantage in both speed and stamina, since he wasted less energy swinging around a lighter material. Not that Rowan needed such an advantage: having been raised on a farm, he could put in physical labor all day and come back for more in the morning.

“Do I want to know what that dummy did to you to deserve that treatment?”

Rowan blinked and turned around. A blonde girl with a sword at her hip was walking up to him, arms crossed. She was pretty, but the way she was dressed, the sheen of sweat providing evidence of training, and the aura of authority about her made far more of an impression than her looks could. This was the quiet sort of confidence that was never unfounded. And the intensity of her eyes spoke of real experience.

Rowan blinked and looked back at the broken dummy. “Oh, err...yeah, I have a hard time holding back in fights...go all out from the beginning, you know?” He shrugged, but rubbed the back of his neck. He really hadn't meant to break the dummy. “I can't go the woods for training all the time...figured I'd try the arena today.”

He moved as if to shift his spear to his right hand, then paused and held out the right instead. Rowan was very left-handed, and he always had a false start when offering handshakes before he remembered he needed to use his right for most people. “Rowan Clay, son of Demeter.”

[Daphne Scotts]

Daphne couldn't help but smirk a bit when the boy looked a bit sheepish about breaking the dummy. She'd seen so many broken dummies around the arena and even broke a few herself, but she'd never seen destruction like this. “It's good to go all out in battles, but you should worry about your endurance,” she said as she loosened up a bit and uncrossed her arms. “Because the worst you can do is let an enemy or monster get you at your weakest because you have the strength, but not endurance.” She was speaking from experience. Experience that she wished she didn't have sometimes.

She looked down at the dummy and shrugged. “Chiron replaces these all the time. You'd think he'd invest in better equipment by now. But I find humans a bit safer to train with than monsters.” She looked back up at him and smiled and was about to shake his hand when she paused. Demeter. He was a Demeter. Her first boyfriend, Achilles, was a Demeter. She'd avoided their cabin when they broke up a few years ago, but here she was about to shake hands with one of his brothers. She shook off the thought quickly as she shook his hand. “Daphne Scotts. Zeus.” She nodded her head as she let go of his hand.

[Rowan Clay]

She mentioned endurance, to which Rowan nodded. He wasn't really exerting the full force of his powers. By their nature, they were low-key but long-lasting, so long as he stuck to manipulating wood. It drained him to actually animate and alter plants too much, but actually changing the properties of wood was simple for him. Which was a shame, really, seeing as if he could manipulate plants the way he did nonstop and in great numbers, he would be a one-man army on the battlefield.

He nodded at her words. “People would be safer. But most of them don't want to train with me because I don't hold back well. Sometimes an Ares kid will come looking for a fight, but for the most part, no. And I don't blame them. It's not like I want to hurt anyone, I just...can't attack halfheartedly.” Growing up on a farm where you're constantly left alone to fend off monsters could instill a lack of restraint, he supposed. Besides, monsters weren't bad to fight. The problem was, the trees in the forest provided him so much wood to work with that he didn't get challenged. And Rowan was not about to deliberately underutilize his surroundings. That sounded like a horrible habit to pick up.

Oh. Daughter of Zeus. No wonder she felt large and in charge: she was. Rowan nodded. “Nice to meet you, Miss Scotts.” And that wasn't deference to Zeus talking—though, he reflected, it probably should be—Rowan was just well-mannered by upbringing. People were meant to be respected, period, where he was from, at least so long as you weren't familiar enough with them to joke around. He looked over at the dummy. His wood manipulation was sadly only combat-related. He could mend his weapons if he broke them in a fight, but he couldn't mend the dummy. “You think Chiron can get stone statues here to practice on...?”

[Daphne Scotts]

Daphne smirked a bit when Rowan said he couldn't attack halfheartedly. She understood that completely. When she wanted a fight, she wanted a full-on battle, not some little training skirmish that a child could do. She understood why the Ares kids came up with her for fights all the time, but sometimes the Ares kids were wimps. Absolutely. But Rowan looked like a potential sparring mate.

She looked down at the dummy and laughed when Rowan suggested that Chiron get stone statues. She shook her head as she looked back up at him. "I doubt that Chiron would agree to it, unless we get Medusa's head first." She smirked a bit more as she raised an eyebrow at him. "However, if you need a sparring person, I can volunteer. I promise I don't hold back either if you want a real fight."

[Rowan Clay]

Rowan smirked at the idea of having to collect Medusa's head to make stone practice dummies. Seemed a bit extreme for that. Though the idea of turning a Cyclops to stone and setting it up in here had a bit of merit. “However, if you need a sparring person, I can volunteer. I promise I don't hold back either if you want a real fight.” Rowan turned to her, raising an eyebrow. He was powerful, a son of one of the big three goddesses among the Olympians, but that still put him a league under Daphne. The big three gods, and their demigod children, were always a cut above the rest as far as power went. But...not always in terms of raw skill. And Rowan was quite good at fighting. Besides, if it came down just to fighting with weapons, his powers let him hit above his weight class.

“This isn't going to get me zapped, is it?” he asked with a lopsided grin, glancing up at the sky for a moment. He turned and nodded though, stepping back to put distance between them before drawing the sword at his side. The weapon was made from white oak, the wood a pale color that was almost white, but it no longer resembled a wooden katana as it had when it had arrived for him. Reforged by Rowan's power, it resembled the same hoplite sword style used by most of the camp. The only difference was, it was made entirely out of wood. But in Rowan's hands, the weapon was as strong as steel and very difficult to damage. He'd never seen it so much as scratched when he held it.

He paused, watching her, not sure if she intended this spar to be swords only. Well, it was easiest to just ask, he supposed. “Rules?”

Daphne Scotts (I promise I'm still around!)

[Daphne Scotts]

Daphne watched and waited as Rowan processed her proposition. Not a lot of guys were wiling to fight a child of a Big Three unless they were Ares children or just really dumb. And the last time she offered to fight a son of Demeter... she couldn't think about it. It was years ago. She had to move on with her life, just like he did so easily. But finally Rowan answered and Daphne laughed as she shook her head. "Nah, you won't get zapped unless you really deserve it." And that was true. She only zapped a few people on purpose but they each deserved it. But she nodded her head. It looked like it was settled and that she would finally get a decent battle for once.

He took a step back and drew his sword while Daphne unsheathed hers. She didn't think her sword was special or fancy, except for the lightning bolt designs that covered the hilt and pommel. Otherwise, it was the same type of metal that was used around camp. And she could honestly say that she never went up against an opponent that used wood. She raised her eyebrows a bit, but she had to remember what he did to the dummy moments earlier.

But rules... Rules were a thing they were supposed to have, weren't they? "Swords only," she stated as she nodded her head. "No hits to the head or limbs. Torso only." She thought for a moment to make sure she wasn't missing anything before she gave a finalized nod as she got into her fighting stance. "Ready?"

(Rowan Clay No worries!)

[Rowan Clay]

Blade to blade, only body strikes. Rowan could handle that. He tossed aside the spear he had, then followed it up with the staff from his back. He left the quiver and the ring be: they wouldn’t block any attacks that were allowed in this fight anyway.

She moved fluidly into position. “Ready?” Rowan nodded, slipping into his own stance. His body was turned, his right side toward Daphne, with his arm acting as a sort of shield. Part of him thought this might be unfair, since it made body strikes harder, but he tended to wind wood or vines around his right arm and use it as a shield anyway, so…

His left arm was raised, the wooden blade held up and forward a bit. He was leaned slightly forward, so that his right foot held most of his weight. This way, he could pivot on that foot, adding torque to his strike—a strike which had a deceptively long range when Rowan’s entire body spun around and moved his left arm from behind him to in front of.

Speaking of which…

Rowan pivoted on his right foot, thrusting forward with the blade as his entire left side swung forward. He put his weight and torque into a strike that could pierce stone. It would be easily dodged, he had no doubt, but it would get things started.

Daphne Scotts

[Daphne Scotts]

Daphne watched as Rowan got into position. He was using his arm as a shield, which Daphne found odd, but it was probably muscle memory. Daphne had a shield, but she liked to train with once in a while. She was quite used to learning to defend herself with just her sword, since that was on her person at all times. She shifted slightly in her stance as she waited for the right time to make a move. However, Rowan beat her to it and thrusted his blade towards her. Daphne quickly parried the blade down and off to the side before she launched her own attack. She swung her blade back towards his body, but made sure that the flat of the blade was towards. She didn't use enough force to severely injure him, but it would hurt if her blade did make contact with his torso. Only time would tell as their battle progressed.

(My name is Rachel and I used to be good at writing fight scenes and now I swear I'm horrible ^-^)

[Rowan Clay]

Her parry was textbook, a perfect maneuver to knock Rowan’s guard away and open him up to what would be a killing blow if she willed it.

It probably would have put someone using a metal blade entirely on the defensive.

As Daphne deflected his strike and continued the motion into a slash, Rowan opened his hand, spinning it around the hilt of the sword to reverse his grip in a maneuver that could never be done so quickly with a heavier metal sword, and raised his arm to intercept. The sound of metal striking wood echoed around them. Now her blade was against his, but where Daphne was using only her wrist, Rowan’s sword now rested along his forearm, allowing him to put his weight behind it.

Which he promptly did, digging his left foot into the dirt and pushing his body forward, attempting to push her blade back towards her. If he could force her to jump backward, he could swing the blade outward as she did so and maybe tag her.

Daphne Scotts

[Daphne Scotts]

Daphne didn't have a chance to hit Rowan. Not one moment before he managed to intercept her sword. She raised her eyebrows a bit. Maybe she had underestimated him slightly with his wooden sword. But she didn't have much time to think as he was pushing her blade towards her. She knew exactly where he was going with this maneuver. If she jumped back, he had an opportunity to tag her, but it was a matter of strength in order to keep her ground. She wondered if she could use her powers, but decided that was cheating with the rules they had established. But Daphne wasn't going to get tapped a few minutes into their fight.

She held her ground as she slid her blade along his, trying to make him open up his chest once more. Once she saw an opportune moment, she went for a shoulder shove to his free shoulder. Hopefully it would make him loose his balance, if not making him fall to the ground.

(Rowan Clay)