Cursed Telescope (Open)

[Accalia Phillips]

Accalia had just acquired it with the help from a hunter of Artemis. Accalia was sure the gift was only given as a way to help recruit Accalia to the hunters, but she wasn't interested. The only problem was, Accalia wasn't sure how to set the darn thing up. Her dog, Frederick, ran around her ankles which didn't make the set up any easier. The telescope wasn't too big, but it was big enough to need a stand. Accalia got as close to the water as she could manage without getting too wet, the water was up to her ankles.

Finally she was able to get the telescope somewhat stable, even though it wasn't set up correctly. She put her eye to the hole and searched the horizon. She knew she wouldn't find anything. She had to depend completely on luck if she thought she was going to find him off the coast of New York. She laughed out loud to herself, and at her pathetic attempt.

[Charlie Webster]

It was quite rare for Charlie to take his walks on the beach instead of the forest. He really didn't like how the sand squished beneath his feet and he always managed to get some sand into his shoes. However, he needed a change of scenery. Painting trees was getting a little boring for him, so he decided to take his walk on the beach.

As he walked along on the shore with his hands in his pockets, he noticed the different colors that was in the surface in the water. This made Charlie smile a bit as he thought about the next painting he could do out here. He turned to face forward and noticed a little bit in front of him a girl with an old-fashioned telescope. He knitted his eyes a bit as he decided to walk a little bit closer to her.

He stopped a bit away from her, but made sure she was in earshot. "You looking for something?" he asked quietly, but loud enough she should be able to hear him. He shrugged a bit as he buried his hands in his pockets a bit deeper.

[Accalia Phillips]

Accalia shook her head and turned to face the voice, "No. I mean yes, but there's no way I'm going to find it," she said with a sigh. She wasn't in the mood to beat around the bush right now. She definitely wasn't going to act all cheery despite her bad mood, like she would have done in the past. No, better to just be up front and honest about everything. It was better than faking it.

She cocked an eyebrow at him as Frederick ran up to him, wagging his tail. The dog sat in front of the boy and stared at him with a big lopsided smile. "Fred seems to think you're okay," she started, taking a step away from the telescope. "I'm Accalia," she held out a hand to him but she didn't smile. She was acting more along the lines of someone who was just doing it for formalities sake.

[Charlie Webster]

Charlie couldn't help but frown slight at what the girl said. He glanced out at the horizon and scanned it a bit as he turned back to the girl. "I'm sorry," he said with a bit of a shrug. "What are you looking for anyway, if you don't mind me asking?" He glanced down at his feet as he kicked the sand a bit, grimacing a bit as he felt more fill his shoes.

He stumbled back a bit as a dog suddenly came into his view. Charlie straightened out a bit as he looked at the canine and heard the what the girl said about him. He hesitated for a moment before he took a hand out of his pocket and reached his hand out towards the so he could sniff it and possibly direct where he wanted it to go for pets. He looked up at the other girl just as she outstretched her hand. He took his other hand out of his pocket to shake it. "I'm Charlie," he said softly as he gave her a firm handshake before letting go. "You have a nice dog here," he said as he nodded his head towards the creature.

[Accalia Phillips]

Accalia did her best not to roll her eyes. There was nothing wrong with being curious. She had been one of the most curious people in the world before she got her recent and unfortunate attitude adjustment. She looked back at the horizon to answer, "just a ship. I have no idea where in the world it is, literally, but I thought this would be a good start," she scoffed. She had been acting like her old helpless, hopeful and pathetic little self when she accepted the telescope. She had even gotten excited for a moment. Typical.

His handshake was a good one, at least as far as she could tell. He seemed to be a lot more composed than she was giving him credit for at the start. She nodded at his comment about Fred, "thanks. I don't think he's met a single person that he didn't like right away. But, he eventually forms his own opinions," she nodded to Fred as well. He seemed to know that they were talking about him because his tail was wagging and his ears were perked up happily.

[Charlie Webster]

Charlie knitted his eyebrows together at the mention of a ship. He glanced over at the ocean as he scanned the horizon a bit. He knew he wouldn't find a ship, just like Accalia didn't, but it didn't hurt to try. "Maybe you should try looking over there," he said softly as he pointed to where he knew the harbor in New York City was. "I know there's a lot of boats there." He looked back at Accalia and shrugged a bit. "You maybe you won't find your ship there, but I think you'd have a better chance than looking onto the horizon."

Charlie guessed the dog, Fredrick, gave him the go ahead for petting. He petted the dog for a moment before he started scratching his ears. He looked down at the dog and gave it a half-smile. "I wish people would be more like dogs, you know?" he said as he glanced back up at Accalia. "You know, seeing the best in everyone before they prove you wrong. More people should be more like that." In the back of his mind, the memories of his step-mother and step-sister loomed and tried not to flinch from them.

[Accalia Phillips]

Accalia glanced in the direction he pointed, and she was aware of what he was implying. It was a nice thought, really, the fact that he was trying to offer his opinions in order to help. "Thanks..." she still sounded discouraged though, and there was really no helping that. "What I really need to do is high-jack a ship of my own and just go out there and look for myself," she chuckled, but it was half-heartedly. Scratch that, it was quarter heartedly.

Accalia was a little taken aback by his comment about how people should be more like dogs. She knew that he was right, and there was a time when she would have said something very similar. It was an old fashioned concept, innocent until proven guilty, but she was intrigued by the way he presented it. He really seemed to believe in what he was saying and that was impressive. Accalia nodded, "That's a good point. Do you treat people that way?"

[Charlie Webster]

Charlie shrugged at the girl as she mentioned hijacking her own ship. "So you mean you want to commandeer a ship for your purposes? I could get behind that. We need more old-school pirates, you know? Not those Somalis that so call themselves pirates when they more rebels than anything else." He shrugged a bit more as he kept petting the dog. "But if it would get you closer to finding what you want, then I would talk to Poseidon kids. They'd probably know more about boats then anything else."

He looked down at the dog and couldn't help but smile a bit. Maybe he should get a dog. It would be nice for him to have a loyal companion of some sorts. He looked back up at Accalia as she spoke some more. Charlie gave it a thought before he shrugged once more. "I would love to say that I did, but we're all human, you know? We can't all be perfect. I try, but sometimes I slip and mess up. But I try, which is sometimes the best I can do."

[Accalia Phillips]

Accalia couldn't help but smile a little as he basically said she'd make a good pirate. That wasn't a bad idea. "You know, I've thought about asking those Poseidon kids, but I don't think they'd ever let me do the driving. Let alone help me steal a boat. Though, I could think of a few of them that would love to wear pirate clothes," she nodded. She wouldn't ever really do it. Actually, those Somalians were a pretty good reason to stay put.

"Yeah, I get it," Accalia said, and she did. She understood that all you could do was try. Though, she wasn't really trying lately... but what did that matter? She had other things to worry about. She couldn't trust anyone to treat her with kindness, could she? Well, except for this Charlie, apparently.

[Charlie Webster]

"I could see them being quite demanding that they be the captains or whatnot," Charlie chuckled a bit as he shook his head. "But I can see one of them wanting to have the big ole feathery captains hat and then they all start fighting over it." The image in his head was too much for him as he kept shaking his head and chuckling. "I don't think you want to get in the middle of that, do you?" he asked as he looked up at Accalia and smirked a bit.

He kept rubbing Fredrick's ears, which the dog seemed to like. Charlie looked down at the dog as he kept rubbing them. "He really likes ear rubs, doesn't he?" he asked Accalia as he glanced back up.

[Accalia Phillips]

Accalia rolled her eyes at the thought of any Poseidon kid wearing a big feathery hat. "Yea, I think you're right, I don't want to be caught up in that,"she returned a smirk as she spoke. This kid was extremely easy to talk to, and that was starting to irritate Accalia. She wasn't supposed to be making new friends right now, not after the happenstances with all the old ones. New friends just made things more complicated. Still, she couldn't help but talk to the guy. "Maybe I'll look into air travel instead?" she suggested with an eyebrow raised.

Accalia nodded at his question about Fred, "Don't get me started. He could stand like that for hours if you kept rubbing his ears," she leaned down and let the dog lick her face. "He also loves kisses!" she said while a giggle, and actual giggle. Well, dogs can have that affect on you. She'd never turn her back on him.

[Charlie Webster]

Charlie smirked a little wider as Accalia seemed to take his imagery of Poseidon kids pretty well. "I don't blame you," he said with a slight chuckle as he shrugged a bit. "Air travel might be a little better, but you'd be paying outrageous prices on checked luggage and stuff... plus the ocean is pretty big, so I don't know how you'd track down a ship unless you had its coordinates or something."

He shrugged a bit again before his attention went down to the dog right in front of him. "Well... I would stay there for hours if it felt good too." He chuckled a bit as he let his hand drift away from the dog's ears to the top of its head. His eyes widened a bit as he looked up at Accalia. "Not the kisses," he blurted out with a bit of a laugh. "Anything but the kisses!"

[Accalia Phillips]

Accalia laughed a little has he repositioned his hand on Fredericks head and laughed himself. "I know, they're very slobbery and quite dreadful," she chuckled again. But the moment of laughter quickly disappeared as she looked into his eyes and thought about what he had said a few moments ago.

He was right, of course. Just like it was stupid to look through this damned telescope, it was stupid to consider looking without coordinates. She groaned, nodding her head as she did so. "I know, I know. This is a big waste of time," she snapped. Not necessarily at him, mostly at life in general. "There is no reason to get hopeful, right? I mean-everything and everyone else has left. Except for Fred here, but that's all I've got. That's. All. I've. GOT." On the last word she proceeded to knock the telescope over with one fell swoop of her hand. She took a deep breath

[Charlie Webster]

Charlie chuckled a bit as he continued rubbing the dog's ears. "And I always have a tendency to find more of it one me even when I thought I washed it completely off." He thought the moment was happy for a bit, but then he caught the look in her eyes. He knew that look since that was one he saw in the mirror quite a few times.

He stood there in his spot as he moved his hand away from the dog's ears, much to the dog's dismay. He tried to remain calm as he watched her go through a mini-meltdown. He remained quiet until she knocked over the telescope which caused him to flinch a bit. His eyes looked over at the fallen telescope before taking a deep breath and looking up at Accalia. "I'm sorry," he managed to mutter out as he moved to stick his hands in his pockets. "That must really suck... I'm sorry you're going through that."

[Accalia Phillips]

She looked up at his as he showed sympathy and just shook her head, breathing in deeply through her nose. "Don't be," she said sharply, but not necessarily in an angry tone. More just that it was all really pointless. "I just need to get used to it, you know? I'm sure most demi-gods go through a phase where they think everything and everyone in the world is out to get them, you know?" she said, bending down to set the telescope upright again. "Eventually even friends become the monsters, in the end," she was more muttering to herself that speaking to him at that moment.

Once the telescope was upright again, Accalia bent down to scratch behind Freds ears for a moment. "I didn't meant to-you know-get all temper tantrumy there," she rolled her eyes at herself and tried to lighten the mood, though it was clear the moment was dead, "do you... have any family?"