Workout by the sea [OPEN]

[Atalanta Nikolaou]

❝

Come, surf the clouds, Race the dark, It feeds from the runs undone, Meet me where the cliff greets the sea Do you think you can keep up?

❞

The day was perfect for a beach workout and Lycaon's enthusiasm was slowly reaching her. Improving her mood. Or maybe it was just because she was listening to music as she stretched. She had done a few laps on the sand, barefoot, and now it was time to go through the rest of her regime, push-ups, sit-ups, that sort of thing. The German shepherd pup was a black fluffy ball of energy and it was having the time of its life running from the pile of Atalanta's hoodie, water bottle and nunchaku, to his master and back again.

All the while Atalanta had her earpieces on and was blasting off music as she trained. Her grey sweat pants had been covered in sand on the knees, but she couldn't care less. She just needed to get her mind straight and figure out how her life was going to be from now on. With her mother dead and the sudden revelation that 'hey! That Navy Seal your mom had a thing for? Yeah, he is the god of war, Ares. Congrats, you're in for a life filled with monsters chasing you!', she had to get her life back on track from scratch. Besides, she still didn't feel like she really belonged here at Camp. Sure it had been a week now and she was given the orange T-shirt everybody seemed to be wearing, but she barely knew the people here and honestly the fact that her Mythology was all real was mind blowing. Sure she always took things in a stride and dealt with them, never really questioning why or how they had happened, but this was a lot for her to just brush aside and move on.

By the time 'Eye of the Tiger' began blasting off her ears, her T-shirt had large stamps of sand, sticking on her back as she had grown rather sweaty. She quickly twisted her body and began a set of fast paced push-ups. Something in this exercise seemed fun to Lycaon. The pup paced back and forth, waiting for moments when Atalanta's body would be flat against the sand, so he could jump over her. "Lycaon..." Atalanta huffed warningly as the pup passed over her for the third time. But the pup didn't seem willing to stop. On his fourth attempt however, it misjudged the timing and landed on his belly right ontop of Atalanta's back. It whined to be let down, but Atalanta continued with her set. After her final push, she twisted so she landed on her back, with the pup now sprawled on her torso. "You are a silly little pup, you know that?" She asked, chuckling a little, catching her breath as she laid there on the sand. The pup barked in agreement and scrambled away, moving over to the watter bottle and barking again. It was thirsty.

The daughter of Ares sighed and got up. She gave Lycaon a gulp and then drank herself. "What are we supposed to do now eh?" She asked the pup solemnly as she plopped down, next to her stuff, one earpice dangling on her neck. She looked out at the sea, glistening in the sunlight. Her toes dag in the sand. She didn't know she wasn't alone, too focused on the view, her thoughts and her music.

WORDS ● TAGGED ● OPEN

deltra of gangnam style

[Agni D'Arque]

Agni was not exactly thrilled with the idea of doing the whole summer camp thing. He did not like being forced to follow the rules of others and he was not into activities either. Instead, the son of Phobos preferred to be alone or with his boa constrictor, Spike. Today was no different as Agni walked on the beach, Spike draped lazily around his shoulders like a scaly scarf. Even though he liked to scare others, it was not always easy to find a suitable victim so he often spent time alone.



However, as the punky youth continued his walk, he saw a girl up ahead sitting with her puppy and off in her own little world. Agni was not worried about the girl noticing him. Even though he did wear the orange t-shirt that he received upon arrival, he retained his usual dark attire and that added to his creepy vibe. This also meant most people avoided the dark demigod like the plague.

[Atalanta Nikolaou]

❝

Come, surf the clouds, Race the dark, It feeds from the runs undone, Meet me where the cliff greets the sea Do you think you can keep up?

❞

What was she going to do indeed. For the time being the thought was pushed back. The scenery and the music tied well together. Enough to distract her from dark thoughts. The warning bark of Lycaon snapped her back to reality. The black pup was barking like mad at a boy with a snake around his shoulders. Atalanta's first reaction was to crouch and grab her nunchaku, ready for a fight. And nobody could blame her. Part of it was her heritage, part of it had to do with the month she had spent on the run, facing monsters around every other corner.

Somewhere in all that black, she noticed the bright orange of the Camp's T-shirt and she relaxed again. "Hush Lycaon." She ordered the pup and it stopped barking immediately. Atalanta had made sure to train Lycaon to respond on commands immediately and it seemed the training had paid off. The pup was till very upset about the appearance of the punk guy, who seemed about her age. Atalanta shrugged it off as a reaction to the snake's presence. Yet she felt a tingle down her spine as the boy got closer, her previous thoughts began to resurface, making her feel uneasy.

Scratching Lycaon behind the ears to calm him down a bit, she stopped the music and looked at duo curiously."Sorry about the barking. It's because of the snake." She said and didn't bother to get up. She was pretty comfy on the sand like that. "Is it your pet?" She asked, even though she was pretty sure the answer was yes. This all for interaction's sake, but she also wanted to make sure, in the off-chance the snake was actually a monster in disguise or something equally dangerous. Now that Mythology was real, she thought everything was possible.

WORDS ● Agni D'Arque ● OPEN

deltra of gangnam style

[Agni D'Arque]

Agni turned his head as the girl's pup started a barking frenzy. He was not bothered by it, though. The punky boy was not afraid of dogs and the girl seemed to shut the noisy pooch up pretty quickly. Agni nodded at her words. However, he doubted it was Spike that was freaking the dog out.

The dark-haired demigod fixed his icy-blue eyes on the girl. "It's all good. Spike's not going to care, seeing as he can't hear airborne sounds very well." Agni replied casually. He looked down at the girl on the sand. "Yeah, he is." the punky demigod answered.

[Atalanta Nikolaou]

❝

Come, surf the clouds, Race the dark, It feeds from the runs undone, Meet me where the cliff greets the sea Do you think you can keep up?

❞

"Oh yeah, snakes are better with smelling than hearing, right?" She said, snapping her fingers as she remembered something she had heard from a kid at her old school. He too had a thing for reptiles and had several as pets. Then he confirmed that, indeed, Spike was his pet snake. Yet the way he said it made it look like he didn't want to talk a lot. His whole emo-punk look seemed to be screaming 'leave me alone or you'll regret it.' But Atalanta wasn't going to just drop it here. Unless the guy asked her to.

"So, he's Spike. Who are you?" She asked with a lopsided smile on her face.

WORDS ● Agni D'Arque ● Open

deltra of gangnam style

[Agni D'Arque]

"Yeah, but there are some snakes, like Spike, that have heat receptors on their face that detect body heat as well." Agni stated, nodding in acknowledgement of her words. He found this girl's curiosity surprising. Most people would have made up some excuse and headed for the hills by now. Even when the punky teen wasn't deliberately radiating fear, people still found him creepy.

"Yeah, he is. I'm Agni and I don't know who you are, apart from being one of the only people who hasn't made up an excuse and ran off." Agni replied with a dark chuckle. If this girl was going to ignore the creepy vibes coming off him, then he was going to have to put a bit more effort in.

[Atalanta Nikolaou]

❝

Come, surf the clouds, Race the dark, It feeds from the runs undone, Meet me where the cliff greets the sea Do you think you can keep up?

❞

Atalanta tilted her head to the side as he talked about Spike's thermal vision. "I'm Atalanta and this fuzzball's Lycaon. Apparently my dad's Ares and not just some Seal I never got to meet." She introduced herself and her German Shepherd. The pup began to wimper lowly when Agni chuckled.

Atalanta shrugged and stretched a little. "I don't feel like running off at them moment. And I don't really mind that dark look you got there either." She said and felt another shiver down her spine. This time it was more intense, but she shrugged it off again. She was assured she was safe here. But even if Agni meant to attack her, she could defend herself. And if push came to shove and she was proven inadequate, Gods forbid! She could always run to the campers for help.

"Besides. I've been to one hell of a month. You can't be much worse." She chuckled, though a hint of nervousness was there. She wasn't sure if it was the boy or that the memories of her fights were still fresh in her mind which caused her to feel so unnerved all of a sudden. She decided that it was the latter. At least for the time being.

WORDS ● Agni D'Arque ● OPEN

deltra of gangnam style

[Agni D'Arque]

Agni raised an eyebrow at Atalanta's introduction. "That's a mouthful and you named your dog after a guy who got punished by Zeus for serving the gods human flesh." This girl was a strange one. Her dog seemed more afraid of Agni than she was. Still, he was not that surprised, now that he knew she was a daughter of Ares.

The dark teen grinned and chuckled at Atalanta's words. "Yeah, I can see that. You'd probably like my family's haunted carnival, then." Agni could just imagine Atalanta facing her fears at the carnival. Although, he had a feeling she'd wouldn't be easy to scare.

"Is that so? Some would beg to differ." The punky demigod remarked, his grin widening. Agni couldn't help but be amused as she continued to stay where she was, even though he knew she would be really feeling the fear beginning to radiate off him now. He waited to see how Atalanta would react.

[Atalanta Nikolaou]

❝

Come, surf the clouds, Race the dark, It feeds from the runs undone, Meet me where the cliff greets the sea Do you think you can keep up?

❞

Atalanta shrugged when he said her name was a mouthful and that it was strange to have her dog named after a King Zeus punished. At the time she never thought how this would play out with the Gods and demigods and monsters, simply because she didn't know of their existence when she named the black pup. At the time it was more of a famous wolf of her Mythology so, she went with that. Her mother had named her after one of the few warrior women of ancient Greece, so why couldn't she do the same with her dog?

Then she picked up another bit of information from Agni. His family had a haunted carnival business? Was that why her fear seemed to get stronger with every passing moment? "Haunted you say? Then are you a son of Hades?" She asked. In an effort to feel more safe, to calm the growing fear and anxiety in her chest, she grabbed her nunchaku. The weapon's presence in her hands always made her feel more confident. If she could fight, she could always get out of trouble. Her knuckles grew white from the tight grip and her position sifted to a more battle ready position. She was still sitting, but most of her relaxed attitude was gone. She was feeling the way she always felt before a monster attacked her.

"Well, I only just met you, so I can't be sure about it. But I spent a month running away from monsters with no means to kill them. So yeah, compared to a Dracaena, I don't think you're that much of bad news." She told him honestly. Even though her body language would tell him otherwise, it was mostly an instictual reaction to the fear she was experiencing. If it was Agni's fault - and by now Atalanta was getting the hint it was, as Lycaon hid behind her - then perhaps it was because he couldn't control his powers or it was something else entirely. She decided there was no point in debating with herself about it. She was always in favor of a direct approach.

"Can you sense it? Is that you?" She asked him. Her tone was neutral, but instictively her eyes darted to her surroundings, waiting for a Cyclops or a Laistrygonian bomb to come down upon them.

WORDS ● Agni D'Arque ● OPEN

deltra of gangnam style

[Agni D'Arque]

Agni continued to radiate fear as Atalanta went into a sitting battle pose and grabbed her weapon. However, the second of the girl's two questions soon put a stop to that. The fear that had been radiating from the punky fellow soon began to dissipate as he burst out laughing. "Yeah, scary is what I do. If you can't tell the difference between me and a Hades kid, then you need help." Agni replied, still laughing.

"Hmmm, I tend to scare away those who have just met me, so that's a crappy excuse. For someone who's been running away for a month, you seem to be pretty keen to try and hide your fear. Thanks, I think." He remarked, raising an eyebrow. The creepy demigod could see her body language contradicted her words.

"I don't sense things unless I happen to touch someone. Possibly, that's for me to know and you to find out." Agni smirked with a devious grin. He was enjoying toying with this girl, even if she was resisting his attempts to scare her. The dark youth did not care as long as Atalanta did not attack him.

[Atalanta Nikolaou]

❝

Come, surf the clouds, Race the dark, It feeds from the runs undone, Meet me where the cliff greets the sea Do you think you can keep up?

❞

Atalanta closed her eyes in relief as the fear subsided. Of course the laughter which followed was not exactly pleasant. Atalanta never liked to be laughed at. But then again, was there a person in the world that would? "I've only been at Camp for a week." She grumbled and got up, her weapon still held tight in her grip. She shrugged as he commented on her trying to hide her fear.

"Dude, I found out that showing fear to a monster only makes you double tasty for them. If there's one thing I won't do, is to die satisfying a monster." She told him and looked awkwardly at him when he thanked her. "You're welcome I suppose." Now Lycaon had stopped whimpering as the fear effect had subsided, but it was still keeping close to Atalanta's legs. So close that one wrong move and the two would be tumbling down.

When it became apparent that he was just messing around with her, she decided to reply in kind. She was close enough to use the butt of her nunchaku to hit his arm. It was not strong enough to cause too much pain, but it would definitely bruise afterwards. "So did you sense that?" She asked teasingly and stuffed her weapon in her sweatpants waist line. "Seriously though. If not a kid of Hades, then who's your godly parent?" She was still grinning, which meant the punch was a friendly one. Of course an unfriendly punch from a child of Ares was bound to be more destructive than a mere bruise, so it ought to be pretty obvious she was just being friendly, taking him up on that offer to find out if he can sense stuff through touch.

WORDS ● Agni D'Arque ● OPEN

deltra of gangnam style

[Agni D'Arque]

Agni smirked at Atalanta's grumble. Even though he had not managed to scare her, he found her irritation somewhat amusing. "In that case, you're fresh from your initiation, which was probably more interesting than the normal swirly as you're an Ares kid." The punky guy stated. Agni raised an eyebrow at her following remark.

"I thought running away was showing fear. Well, there's no monsters here, so feel free to show that fear." He laughed, his smirk still in place. The dark fellow liked messing with this girl. She was not like other new campers.

Agni snorted and rolled his eyes as Atalanta teased him and hit his arm with her weapon. If she hadn't been teasing, he probably would have retaliated with his knives. "Very funny, but it doesn't work that way." The creepy youth pointed out. "My dad is Phobos, but you could have figured that out by now."

[Atalanta Nikolaou]

❝

Come, surf the clouds, Race the dark, It feeds from the runs undone, Meet me where the cliff greets the sea Do you think you can keep up?

❞

Atalanta's face darkened when Agni mentioned her innitiation. "Don't remind me. Makes me wanna beat the crap out of them." She growled. Then she looked down as Lycaon seemed to be getting used to the dark teen's presence and began to explore the beach again, venturing farther than where the two demigods currently stood. She had to cross her arms over her chest when he said it was okay to show her fear and that running away was due to fear.

She shook her head in denial. Showing fear only made matters worst. What you had to do, her mom always told her, was to face and defeat your fears. "I may be the daughter of a war god, but I am not stupid. Fighting an enemy with no chances of defeating them is not exactly my idea of a fight. Running away was a means to survive. I fought my way out of it. And I couldn't scare them to death or something like you would've done. With no celestial bronze I didn't stand a chance." She explained in exasperation as if it was obvious. Then Agni's godly side of the family registered with her and she took a step back.

"Wait! Would that make me your aunt? Because that would be creepy." She said and she wasn't teasing at this point. To have a boy your age as your nephew without never knowing they existed was indeed a creepy concept to her.

WORDS ● Agni D'Arque ● OPEN

deltra of gangnam style

[Agni D'Arque]

Agni chuckled as Atalanta grumbled again. He seemed to be good at getting under her skin. The dark demigod glanced briefly at Lycaon before looking at the girl again. "That doesn't surprise me. You could have tried beating the crap out of them while they were doing it."

Agni sighed at her words. Quite often, running away just made things worse. "I beg to differ. Knowing your enemy will actually increase your chances of defeating them. Running away also makes you look like prey and gives monsters another opportunity to try and catch you. You fought your way out by fleeing. Perhaps, but you still have your own set of powers. There are other ways to defend yourself, even without weapons." He pointed out with a shrug. The punky teen snorted at her following words.

"I'm not sure. Technically, you're my dad's half-sister. Maybe you're my half-aunt or aunt-by-proxy." Agni mused, shrugging again. He had never really thought his godly heritage in-depth.

[Atalanta Nikolaou]

❝

Come, surf the clouds, Race the dark, It feeds from the runs undone, Meet me where the cliff greets the sea Do you think you can keep up?

❞

"Great." She muttered to herself as Agni confirmed the fact they were somehow related. She didn't want to find out she had people related to her through such a crazy bloodline. Heck she didn't really want to be there, she didn't want to be a demigod. Maybe she would've found it thrilling had the circumstances been different. Now all she wished for was for things to go back to being normal. Her eyes narrowed. Had he called her a coward? Did he actually expect her to beat two Cyclopes to a bloody pulp when they had come for her that day?

She wasn't sure if it was his previous aura of fear getting to her now, or maybe she wasn't as fine as she thought she was. But she snapped. "No. I don't. All I had was my fists, a backpack and a pup. I had no idea what was going on and I realized that trying to beat a Cyclops to a bloody pulp would kill me. After that I decided that in order to survive I had to shake them off my tracks. Whenever they found me again, I just hit and ran. I couldn't know my enemy because my enemy was not supposed to exist."

She grabbed her hoodie from the sand and wrapped it around her waist. "And for the record. I did break one of their noses. Wonder how you would fare if you had Ares' sons ganging up on you..."

WORDS ● Agni D'Arque ● OPEN (lookie, he managed to piss her off, which is not really that hard, but shhhhh!)

deltra of gangnam style