It's time for a tan [Open]

[Deleted]

As he relayed the tidbits of information, her eyes watched his, seeking every micro-expression in his face. It was an odd habit of hers, to watch other people, which added to the general unease people felt around her. It wasn't just the gothic attire, the pale colouring, the soft voice, old way of speaking and the unspecific sense of fear that scared people but the intensity of her stare and the knowledge that she was listening, and hard, to whatever they were saying. Her eyes never left his face while her mind scanned each word for nuances and hidden meanings.

"Good," she spoke softly as he spoke of his need to fix things. "You have the estate of your father in you, I think all his children like to fix things. Fixing is far superior to breaking in any case."

As he asked her a return question, she dropped her gaze to think it over and smoothed a gentle hand along the top of her skirt. Back and forth, her hand went, before she began to speak without looking up at him. "I don't like big areas of water, nor anything that is in the domain of Poseidon," she admitted with a slight grimace. "The man who made my scars gifted me that. Nor do I like being in the centre of the spotlight, I would far rather be ignored or left alone to do what I wish. Also, I am most certainly a cat person. Raised voices annoy me, as does fighting."

She scanned her fingers with a thoughtful look on her face. "As to likes, I like the night, as one would expect from a daughter of Nyx. I fancy myself a lover of things like art and history, things that give meaning to the world. Music too, I suppose. One day, I would like to travel somewhere that has great art and great food. Maybe back to Greece, where our parents ruled. Or Paris, maybe."

[Leon Orcot]

Leon watched her curiously as he spoke. She was paying attention to him, like, severely. She was looking very intently at his face as he spoke. He wondered if he may have had something on there, subconsciously taking his hand and rubbing it over his face. He listened to her speak of how it was better to build then to destroy and he nodded his head. He much preferred building to breaking. It was so much more fun to him.

He listened to her with less intensity looking at her face as she spoke of her own fears and likes. He smiled at her softly before starting his responses. He smiled a bit as she said something about Poseidon, "I'm not a big fan of his myself. Deep water is my main enemy most of the time. I'm fine with is as long as I have some technology below me, like a boat or something. I'm thinking of building a surfboard to try and help me conquer my fear personally." His smile turned sour when she heard about he man who gave her the scars she had. He wanted to ask about them, but he knew how he felt when people talked or asked about his scars. His smile grew back to normal as she talked about cats and her dislike of fighting. He was more of a dog person himself, but he still liked her all the same.

Hearing her likes he couldn't help but smile nostalgically, his mother had loved art. It had become a bit of a hobby for her and him. He had enjoyed watching Bob Ross, this old painter fellow with an amazing afro, paint and do the paintings with him. He still had some of the videos with him. "I love doing painting. My mother and I used to paint together when we weren't down in the shop working. I may actually do some painting later now. I'd personally love to visit Paris myself, and I may even travel there once I get my car upgraded. If you would like to come, maybe, come and speak with me."

[Deleted]

"I don't know if I could actually go in the water, even with an aid like a boat or a surf board" she admitted, with a slight tilt of her head to indicate the waves lapping at the beach just below them. "I haven't set foot in anything larger than a bath tub for 13 years. But I'd be quite happy to watch you surf, as long as you don't try to drag me into it."

Her eyes raised themselves to study him as his voice changed, listening to his voice change from strong feelings to a sense of winsome nostalgia. Her brow furrowed ever so slightly as she repeated what he had said in her head. Why would he offer a stranger a seat in his prized car to go somewhere overseas when they had barely finished meeting each other? Her hands still in her lap as an inquisitive look passed over her face. Brushing a strand of hair away from her face, she questioned him softly.

"That is a kind offer, and I do not want to cause offense, but why would you offer me a ride to somewhere like Paris when you've only just met me? It seems to be a little forwards to ask someone you've just met. I don't mean to be rude, merely curious."

[Leon Orcot]

Leon laughed a bit at her wanting to watch him surf. He still wasn't all too sure he was going to surf. He had been toying with the idea for a bit since he saw the beach and waves when he arrived here. He smiled hearing her words, "Don't worry, I won't force you to join in. Just watching would be fine. You may even get a laugh out of my failures and wipe outs." He chuckled a bit to himself at that, knowing he was going to fail a great deal before he succeeded.

He watched her brow furrow a bit as he made is offer. Not missing the look on her face as she asked him why. He smiled a bit more as the nostalgia made it's way back into his voice. "Your question isn't rude, and it is only normal for someone to ask something like that after and offer like mine. Truth be told, you look a great deal like my mother. If you had a tan like me, and smudged some grease on your face and arms, you could look like the photos I have of her around our age. It was always mom's dream for us to go to Paris together, but we never got to go. Since you wish to go to Paris, or even Greece for that matter, I would love to take you there. Besides, by the time my car is ready to fly, we will have had plenty of time to get to know each other." He smiled his most charming grin at her as he said that last part. He was hoping she would catch his deeper meaning. She was a very attractive woman, even if she did look like his mother, but he knew she wasn't.

[Deleted]

"Mayhap I will," she answered softly, answering his statement about surfing with just the tiniest hint of a smile. It was nice that after all this time, she was getting to know people who didnt think of her as just an extension of her mother or a weird goth chick who barely spoke louder than a whisper. She sensed that this man sitting in front of her would be a great boon in the future, and that he seemed to be unfazed by her, no mean feat. It could be because he was new, or because they were the same age and had the knowledge that evil was real.

The idea that she resembled his mother made her slightly unsure of what to say and how to feel. Did she need to feel offended that he was likening her to his mother? Something about the Oedipus complex from Freud whispered in the back of her mind, but she brushed it off. The way he talked about his mother made it clear that he was not trying to offend her, it seemed like he held his mother in great esteem and there were worse things to be compared to, she supposed. Gifting him with the tiniest of smiles, she nodded slightly. "I would like that," she told him.

"How will you get the car to fly?" she asked, intrigued by the idea of a flying car, like in Harry Potter.

[Leon Orcot]

He gave her pale skin another once over before thinking a bit. "Perhaps I'll show you my failures at night. The sun and you don't seem to get along well as it is." He gave her a grin and a wink. He found himself enjoying this conversation with Desdemona quite a bit. She seemed like a nice young woman, if a little quiet. But he didn't mind that, he liked his peace and quiet just as much as he liked his loud rock music.

He was glad when she smiled and nodded at him, saying she would like to go to Paris with him someday. Who knew what could happen between now and then. He sure didn't, and he was going to take it as he came. Besides, while he had mostly designed the units to make the car fly, he didn't have an adequate power source yet. Until he adjusted the design he was working on, he couldn't even build the parts to test them. He needed to watch that movie again. Then he heard her next question and his face broke into a grin. "Well I'm glad you asked. I'm basing the flight mechanism off of the repulsors found in the Iron Man movies and comics. I've got them almost fully designed right now, but I need to keep working on building a miniature arc reactor like he has in his chest. Mine will likely be bigger so I don't have to make it super small, but for now I want to make one that's at least stable. My last three have blown up in my face. I think I'm close to a breakthrough though, so I'm going to keep up the work."

[Deleted]

"No, we don't like each other very much..." she simply replied, giving the sun a baleful glare from the relative safety of her parasol. "And if we do it at night, not many people will be out so we can have some privacy. People here kind of fear the dark and so they are stupid. The dark will not hurt you, it is the things inside the darkness that can. And they're usually already there during the day anyway."

Tilting her head as she listened to his description of the flying technology he was going to use to get his car airborne, her eyes flashed slightly. The things he was talking about were alien to her, but she liked the fact that he was so passionate about it. A flying car would be so very useful to the Camp, especially if the border shields ever broke and harpies flooded the camp. They could take the fight to the skies, then, and save a lot of lives. "Maybe ask the Hermes and Zeus cabins for help?" she suggested softly. "They know more about the technical side of flight than any other cabin."

"And it is good to be persistent," she softly added. "Too often, people give up here. They can be spoiled, I guess, thinking things get easier or better once they arrive here. It doesn't. In some ways, it gets harder. Many of the campers here could benefit from persistence."

[Leon Orcot]

He nodded at her wise words, thinking back to Bane from The Dark Knight Rises. "You merely adopted the dark. I was borne in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, and by then it was nothing to me but blinding." He muttered that quote softly under his breath. He knew she would hear it, and probably question it, but it was a good quote. "You are of course right. One should not fear the dark, merely what may reside within it." 

He hadn't thought to ask the Zeus or Hermes campers about that. He would more then likely seek out his fellow cabin leader of Zeus and ask him for a bit of a hand on the repulsors placement and such. He would know best where things should be placed in order to fly best. "I think I'll seek out the cabin leader for Zeus later, I've heard he can actually fly by himself so perhaps he can lend some assistance." 

He smiled as she commented on his persistence to building his machines. It wasn't in his nature to give up after failing, especially when all he had to go on was a design from a paused segment of a movie. "I don't believe in giving up after a few failures. I will always do my best to continue on. I learn more from failing then success anyway. And I also think everyone here could use some more dedication to things. If they give up because they fail, what are they learning?"

[Deleted]

She tilted her head as he quoted something, a questioning look coming over her face. "Where does that quote come from?" she asked politely. "It doesn't seem familiar but it is certainly fitting. "

"Yes, cabins leaders are useful for many things." she continued. "I myself am a Cabin leader, for the Others cabin. We are gifted with abilities that the other campers don't have. And we are quite happy to help out other campers, it's part of our job descriptions. Most of us, anyways. Sometimes the Ares cabin needs ego stroking and the Aphrodite cabin can be only interested in themselves. Never annoy the Artemis hunters early in the morning, though. They'd chase you all over camp if they could, and you'd need to climb a tree to escape."

Looking at him shyly from under her long lashes, she fidgeted with her fingers. "Nothing. They learn nothing."

"Leon?" she asked after a while. "You have been so nice to me, I wish to give you something in return. You may call me Mona instead of Desdemona."

[Leon Orcot]

"The quote comes from the movie, The Dark Knight Rises. It's a Batman movie. In it was a character named Bane, who was raised in this deep pit underground. He was literally born into the darkness, and it molded him as a person." Leon explained to her. He had liked that movie and did a somewhat okay impression of Bane. He was a big fan of Heath Ledger as the Joker more. He brought some dark comedy to the set that Leon found enjoyable on occasion. 

He listened to her explanation on cabin leaders, not that he really needed it. With the previous cabin leader for Hephaestus gone, as the oldest and most worldly experienced child of the smith god, Chiron had chosen him to be cabin leader. He didn't mind, as it unlocked another one of the powers he was allowed, his newly dubbed pyrokinesis. He smiled at her, allowing a small flame to form on the palm of his hand, "What a coincidence, I'm also a cabin leader. It gave me the wonderful ability to manipulate fire at will. I'll take the advice about the hunters to heart, especially after a few weeks ago." He absentmindedly rubbed the freshest scar on his chest, a stab wound earned from sparring with one of these hunters.

Leon looked at her shy face and smiled a charming smile at her, "Exactly, they will learn nothing from giving up. Continuing on even after failing is what they should try. It will build them up to be better persons."

Leon scratched the back of his head as he smiled at her again, "I am honored you would allow me this, Mona. The only nickname I have is The Mechanic, but that is mostly for work. I suppose if you wished it, you can call me Leo, you'll be the first and only person allowed to." He gave her a sly wink and gently patted her shoulder. "So what are you planning on doing today? Other then me of course." He quickly realized his slip of the tongue and corrected himself, blushing a bit, "Talking to me I mean."

[Deleted]

"Oh..." she stated simply. "I am sorry, I have been inside these borders for a long time and I never really get to watch television or movies much. I much prefer to read, I suppose.  But this Bane character sounds very interesting. Perhaps one day you might be able to show me this movie?"

Her dark eyes watched the small flame appear above his outstretched hand with interest, then she stretched out a long white finger and rested it above the tip of the fire. Out of  her finger slowly curled darkness, surrounding the flame carefully and then taking on a similar shape. Letting it float above her palm, Desdemona watched the shadow mold itself to an identical flame then spread out to form three which floated above her hand before 'burning out' one by one until the last one was doused by her closing her hand over it.

"That is a great talent," she softly spoke. "I would show you my acquired Cabin leader power but it is not very pleasant. The Cabin Leader of my bloodline, since Primordial children are classified as Others, can bring forth terror or paranoia in other people. It runs in the family. Most of the unpleasant Primordial figures are our sisters and brothers, like Thanatos and Nemesis and Eris."

She blinked as he winked at her slyly, a faint blush appearing in her cheeks at his slip up. "What was I doing today?" she repeated. "I had no plans, expect perhaps to sleep until night comes. I am most active during night, of course."

[Leon Orcot]

Leon shrugged at the woman before him, "If I can get my hands on a copy of it Mona, I promise you we'll watch it together. It's a date eh?" Leon gave her an exaggerated wink to let her know he was joking about the date part, not that he would mind if she wanted to call it that. He found her to be an attractive and interesting person. He would definitely be spending more time with her.

He watched as she reached out and enveloped his own flame in darkness, before it formed into three different shadow flames. He closed his hand to extinguish his own and watched mesmerized as hers were far more beautiful in his opinion. He had always had an interest in the dark as well as the light. "That is very beautiful, I much prefer that to my own fire. This is much more soothing." He watched as they slowly "burned" down into nothing in her palm.

He listened raptly to her description of her power. The ability to instill terror or paranoia would be a great but terrible power indeed. "That is not a power I would wish to have, no offence to you. I would like to witness this power of yours someday though. It is a great power, terrible, but great. Unpleasant Primordials, bah. Everyone is unpleasant at times, and besides, I kind of like Eris. Everyone needs a little discord in their lives, otherwise it just isn't fun." He shrugged again here, he would like to see her power in the future. Hopefully there would be an appropriate time.

He smiled slyly as he got her to blush with his quick slip up, hearing her response he had to make a quick joke. "More active during the night eh? Are you trying to seduce me? Because if you are, it may be working a bit." He gave her a sly wink to go with his smile.

[Deleted]

The comment about a date made the blush spread across the bones of her cheeks further, her eyes ducking down to study her skirt shyly.  She was unused to being flirted at, in fact she had no idea how to respond. She'd watched plenty of female campers flirt and make out over the years, but she had no clue how to do what they did. Up until a few weeks ago, she had never thought she needed to know how to flirt. This much male attention made her uncertain how to respond. 

Carefully, her eyes raised themselves to study him. "I don't think I've ever had to use it yet," she admitted. "But I know its there. It sometimes speaks to me, but I learnt how to quiet it down. Its a lot like having elemental abilities in a way. They're always talking to you. And I wouldn't know what my divine siblings are truly like, we haven't yet met in person. But I've seen them at work here."

As Leon continued to flirt with her, Desdemona blushed more and then smoothed her hand over her skirts. "I do not quite rightly know," she hesitantly rebutted him, voice softer than it had been. "Seduction can be a tricky business. Did you want me to try?"

[Leon Orcot]

Leon watched with a small smile as she blushed more and looked down at her skirts. He thought she looked quite cute when she was blushing, he decided to let her know that as well. "You look cute when you blush Mona." He reached his hand out to gently stroke her warm, red cheek. He was hoping this would get her face to redden more. It was a very cute picture, the normally pale girl with a healthy splash of color on her face.

He pulled his hand back as she looked up and spoke of her powers. Of course he knew what she spoke of, his fire talked to him all the time. Sometimes he had to just let it loose in a burst of brightness so it would calm down. He needed to learn as she had to quiet it down. For now, it seemed it was fine. "I would still like to see it one day, perhaps on a distant battlefield I cannot yet see, or just messing with some of the more, unpleasant campers here. I have always wished to meet Eris myself, I think it would be interesting to converse with her." He smiled a bit here, wondering what the Goddess of Chaos was like.

His smile grew as she blushed more, smoothing her hands over her skirt. He was enjoying himself a bit much here, but he noticed the way her soft voice got even softer. He was surprised by her answer and tempted fate just a little, "I can see this is making you at least a little uncomfortable Mona, so if you want I will stop; however, I would love it if you were to try and seduce me, as I haven't been really flirted with in a long while. Give it your best shot, if you feel up for it." Leon gave her a genuine smile here, wondering which one she would pick to do.

[Deleted]

As he wished, the touch of his hand on her cheek made her blush further but her eyes remained level and staring into his own blue eyes. The feel of his touch wasn't clammy or slightly slimy like Jamie's had been back in the forest, but more pleasant to the touch. His hands were certainly those of a labourers or someone who worked with their hands a lot, but they had a gentleness to them that belied his history as a man used to hard manual labour. It felt a little nice, if she compared him to Jamie. 

"Maybe you will," she softly replied, giving a vague answer. 

As he broached the subject of their more...intimate discussion, the blush came back tenfold. Studying her white hands and the dark painted nails, she chewed her bottom lip as she debated whether or not to take his offer. She knew little about how to flirt and assumed that she would probably be terrible at it, plus she barely knew the curly haired male in front of her. Deciding to answer after a while of silent contemplation, she raised her black eyes and stared directly into his own. 

"I wouldnt know how to..." she spoke in almost a whisper.