Mischief Managed? (Theodore, Open)

[Seth Park]

    Well, the day had certainly been an eventful one thus far. It hadn't been very long since Seth had arrived at camp with the thought of settling down in the second decade of his life, but still, his time at camp had seemed less fulfilled than he had hoped. What has he done at all this his departure of his father's realm? What had he accomplished? Nothing much, other than the daily boredom which has cemented itself into Seth's routines. Just this morning he had woken up, again, on a hammock by the woods, avoiding the the cabin which he supposedly was supposed to call home. After all these years, the child of the Underworld had felt very little fit of his belonging at camp. His second nature, his demigod instincts if you will tingled and buzzed as if to indicate that he was within the territory of friendly nature. Although he wished to believe it, the man had found it difficult to believe so. The most infuriating issue of all in regards to this lack of feeling, was the fact that Seth had little to no understanding as to why he felt this way. The mantle of loner had glued itself onto his shoulders, with no room to budge. With a sigh, Seth exhaled what little life he had through his breath, and trotted along towards the arena. He could really go for some coffee.


    The scent of death and sweat most likely dripped from the huffing figure as it approached up the hills from the direction of the arena.  The man had only intended to take a small portion of the morning to practice his swordsmanship, but the son of Hades trained well into the afternoon, skipping lunch in the process. His stomach rumbled as he passed by underneath the trees nearby his hammock. Grasping his abdomen with his right hand, and wiping the sweat off his brow with his left, Seth set his Xiphos, sheathed and all, onto the hammock. "Food, I should really get some good food." The words sounded like honey as Seth's thoughts escaped his lips. With a similar sigh as the morning, Seth packed his things. "Might as well drop by the Cabin beforehand..." And with that thought, he carried on towards the Hades' cabin, likely to pass by many cabins on the way...

[Theo Dean]

Another day, another excuse for Theo to slack off. Chiron had been trying to get Theo to help him train some of the younger campers in basic magic that they could use for self-defense and while this was certainly within his limits the centaur was quickly finding out that getting a commitment out of Theo was not the easiest thing in the world. It wasn’t that he was scared of being a teacher, it wasn’t even that he didn’t want to do it, mostly anyways. The real reason was that Theo was a slacker. He was used to letting people down and he couldn’t go messing up his reputation now could he? So Theo had been skipping out on training much to the consternation of those that didn’t know him well and had instead been taking time to enjoy the finer things life like food, fun and pranks on others.

Today it was food and after showing up at the training field to at least be seen and make people think that he was there he promptly turned himself invisible and made his escape. That would certainly keep them busy looking for him for a while and now he was free to pursue his own schedule at his leisure. That meant a stop by the mess hall for a snack but first he was needed to stop by his cabin. It was on his way here though that his plan took a little detour.

Not many people were heading back to their cabin at this hour but today he had someone joining him in his walk. He wasn’t sure he had ever met this one but by the look or, more precisely, by the smell of him it was definitely someone who wasn’t used to playing well with others. Theo was intrigued though and as was usually the case when Theo’s curiosity was piqued he decided to satisfy it by meeting the poor sap in the most Theo way possible. “You know,” He said as he sped up to catch up to the lone demigod. “Typically if one wants to be alone they try a bit harder. Look tough, wear spikes, create their own personal storm cloud to hover above their head. Clearly you are slacking a bit in that department though I could probably help you out in the storm cloud if you wanted.”

[Seth Park]

    The walk was definitely a weird one. The closer and closer the son of Hades got to his cabin, the more he wondered why he was going in the first place. He had been avoiding the place, this was for sure, and he never felt compelled to visit the building, even under strict circumstances. So why now? Seth was certainly in a pensive mood if his thoughts were wandering on simple things such as this. Then again, he was walking, like a dead zombie, grudgingly without the a sign of consciousness towards the cabin. Did he even need a concrete reason to go? Surely, this was his instincts guiding him, taking him "home" to where he should have been all along. Maybe, instead of avoiding the issue, and the light that the camp most likely provided, Seth should instead begin to re-integrate himself into the normal circulation of healthy social activity. If he was even able to...

    He might as well have been a zombie after all with the way he was lugging himself. His body was crying from the aches of training. His stomach was rumbling from the absence of food. Why did he always do this? The bags under his eyes suddenly felt like sandbags, consciously weighing him down. Note to self...take it easy every now and then. The idea sounded nice in thought, but did Seth even know how to lighten up anymore? When he had learned who his father was, and when he had become a demigod, his entire life had spun and flipped upside down. He barely spent his time at camp before he was whisked away to to Hades' grunt work. He had hoped that his time serving his father would foster a stronger familiar relationship, but in truth, he knew that his dad was far too busy to ever try. Yet, Seth was just happy to be of service. He had always respected his father, even if he couldn't get the time of day from Hades. He always understood that being the Lord of the Underworld was no easy job. Hell, Seth himself almost succumbed to the stresses of...well...hell himself. He could only imagine the strain and toll it took from his father. Nevertheless, it was a durable youth....one that was truthfully lonely on many occasions. Seth may have portrayed himself as doom and gloom, but honestly, once the ball would get rolling, he could hold a conversation when he had the chance. And it so happened...the chance struck.

    Seth's pensive episode was suddenly snapped by an unfamiliar voice.   "You know" the voice had come from behind and with a sudden turn, he could see a male rush up to meet him. Instinctively, Seth unsheathed his xiphos but caught himself early and ended up pointing the blade more towards the ground than at the unexpected fellow. The guy had started mentioning spikes and personal storm clouds, like, really? He cocked and eyebrow as he cautiously gave the new guy a one over. "Excuse me?" The words came out inquisitively, slightly passive aggressive in undertone. "I'm sorry but was I giving off any impression of wanting to be alone?" As the words escaped his lips he realized how stupid it might have been to ask. Seth wasn't exactly the most approachable of people. "Actually...never mind. Storm clouds? What do you mean?" he asked, slowly re-sheathing his xiphos at the absence of immediate threat, and wondering how this person could help him in the "storm cloud department".

[Theo Dean]

When you had a habit of teasing people you got use to some pretty adverse reactions. Ares kids tended to be the worst but there were a few others that didn’t take it so well. This guy didn’t seem like an Ares spawn but considering how quickly he pulled celestial bronze on him Theo was guessing that he was probably from one of the other groups. The most important reaction though was what followed immediately after the pointy things came out. If the dude rushed him it was time to disappear. If not, well maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy after all.

Fortunately it looked like there was no immediate danger so Theo kept his smile on and his magic to himself. “Well see now that’s more like it.” He said as they guy seemed to second guess telling him off. “Maybe you won’t be needing those storm clouds after all and here I was thinking you were the silent broody type.” Theo was usually pretty good at reading people but sometimes he was surprised. This was apparently going to be one of those times and that was nice for a change.

Theo watched as the guy put away his blade which made the situation a lot less likely for anyone to lose an appendage today. Now that it was away he could concentrate on the guys other question which was easy because it was a question about Theo and his magic and if there was one thing Theo loved talking about it was Theo. “Oh yeah, rain clouds.” He said nonchalantly. “Perfect for giving off that sense of doom and gloom or to annoy Aphrodite campers. Granted there are other spells I could cast too but storm clouds are always pretty easy.” Theo stopped and held out a hand to the guy. “Name’s Theo. Son of Hecate, camp lay-about and general easy going guy. Nice to meet you.”

[Seth Park]

    Broody? Did he come off as broody? No....noooooo he wasn't the broody type, certainly...he couldn't be? Well yet again, it was the stereotype after all. Hey! Look there! You see the guy there? Yeah that one, the none exuding an aura of death, pain, misery, and oh surprise, broodiness! Humph, he mentally scowled at the thought. Silent, though, yes, he could get behind that. He was usually the yes sir, no sir, type when it came to taking order from his father, as much as he defied at some times. There, at one time, was a day when he had to rummage through chicken stool to fine a specific gold ingot that could.....oh never mind, thinking about it made his head swirl and his stomach churn. Anyways, to return to the time and place, if his ADHD would allow gods forbid, 'storm clouds'.

    The camper identified himself as a son of Hecate, a layabout, and a general easygoing guy. He could recognize at least two of these to be true. With an eyebrow cocked, Seth reach out his hand in a gesture of peace and took Theo's. "Names Seth. Son of Hades. Shadow of Death, Harbinger of Hades, and self proclaimed coffee connoisseur. Pleasure."

    It was certainly interesting to see how this Theo had so casually introduced himself to Seth. That made two campers since his early, yet by all accounts, prolonged stay here that others had approached him. Quite fascinating. For the most part, Seth could consider himself to be...the hard to approach type. Was it because he was broody? No, he wouldn't admit it. Ever. But just to check...

"So, now that you know...any quips you want to make? Get it out of your system? Yes, son of Hades. Runaway along if you want now, this is the part where most people get uncomfortable. I wouldn't blame you." With that, Seth retracted his hand and proceeded to indicate his intentions to return to his cabin.

[Theo Dean]

“Any quips? Hmmm…” Theo said as he resumed walking with the Hades camper apparently without noticing the terse answer. He had noticed of course but in general he didn’t let what other people thought guide his decisions. That being the case he had chosen to ignore it for now preferring rather to see how far he could push things. “Well I’m normally pretty good at quips, live by them really because they certainly make life more fun but in your case? Naaaaaah. Besides, you seemed to do a pretty good job at putting your own self down just now. Probably don’t need my assistance with that.”

Theo chuckled and gave Seth a good natured clap on the back like he was an old friend. “Shadow of Death though. That’s a good one. How does one go about getting something ominous like that especially when most of the good titles are taken? I mean you don’t see many Impaler’s walking around. Vlad Dracul wrapped that one up pretty tight.” Theo shook his head in thought. “Pity. I mean I guess I could walk around calling myself the Sorcerer Supreme or something fancy like that but that one’s already been taken too and the Great Theodini just doesn’t have that nice ring to it you know?”

He could go on. Theo was exceptionally good at carrying on conversations especially when they were one sided and about himself but for this little experiment he wasn’t really trying to inflate his ego, well too much in any case. “But no, I tend to reserve my quips for those who deserve it and by deserve I mean don’t expect it. Much funnier that way and less of a hassle. You should try it sometime. It’s a great way to relieve stress which, come to think of it, might be a reason why you find yourself on the receiving end so much. Do you tend to stress people out do you know? If so I may have found your problem.”

[Seth Park]

Seth felt that he could've had a whiplash at any moment I mean sheesh this guy could talk. This guy could talk A LOT...and in some weird way it was strangely welcoming. Looking back, he could barely pinpoint a few moments where a guy, or anyone for that matter, could spew off so many things at once in his direction without lecturing or spitting acid drool -yeah it happened-. The slap on the back was surprising but he felt no ill will with it. The child of Hecate by all means was just trying to be friendly, so he should try to return in kind?  Although, this Theo character had definitely created quite the profile on Seth. Red lights should've gone off when he was approached with the 'dark clouds' comment but the whole 'getting himself down' analysis definitely struck a couple strings. An internal sigh was warranted and justifiable. The brooding type huh? That's twice now...

   Seth was still trying to gather himself from the onslaught of words. Were they questions? Comments? Quips? He tried to keep up but whenever he began to let out breath to answer this Theo had already moved onto another thought. It was bewildering to say the least. Logic dictated that Seth's best bet was to just simply wait until he could get a turn. Immediately this made the conversation more enjoyable. Now he could just lay back and listen and actually gather and hear all the rambling, which was too some degree charming he'd admit. 

"Well-" he saw his chance and he took it, "-to backtrack only a little bit...let's just say that I've built myself a reputation although slightly exaggerated if you ever ask me. I don't really know what you're quite capable of but by the ease in which you claim to produce dark clouds, and your love for quips, maybe the Clown Menace? He paused for a moment and frowned. "Although, that sounds like I'm calling you the Joker though...not sure if you'd take that as a complement. As for stress well...you have no idea...or I have no idea..." He grinned ever so slightly at the verbage. "I can never tell. Usually a cup of coffee is all I need. Anyways, are you planning on walking all the way to Cabin 13 with me? Let me tell you, you can't ever talk about doom and gloom without Cabin 13."

[Theo Dean]

"The Clown Menace eh? Now that's an interesting one." Theo said as he consider this new title. "That's good. No one likes clowns. Not really. I mean think about it. Would you rather run into a Cyclops or a clown after midnight? I'd take the Cyclops every time. Not sure it would work as a title though. Got to have the face paint to pull it off and I look terrible in makeup." Theo supposed he couldn't really blame the guy. He certainly played the role sometimes but 'clown' wasn't really what he was hoping for here.

"The Joker. Now there's a good clown title. Again, already taken but hey we might be on to something here and at least a title like that would cone with a little pre-built history with it. Certainly save me some trouble I would think." This guy seemed to be able to hang with him pretty well. Sure he wasn't much of a talker but Theo respected anyone who could keep up with his ability to take control of a conversation. Seth also had a bit of a sense of humor as cynical as it seemed. Luckily that was just the type of attitude Theo liked.

Cabin 13 was interesting though. That meant Seth was a Hades kid which probably explained a lot. Still, Theo wasn't about to let that stop him from finding out more about this interesting new acquaintance he had met. "Unlucky 13 huh? Well that is a bummer. Here I was hoping you were a Hermes guy. Guess it's not so bad if you have coffee though. So long as you're offering I guess I'm game for stopping by then.