Finding your place (Kevin)

[Ashley Bates]

A summer camp. If this wasn't the last place that Ash had expected to find himself then he didn't know what was. After all the running, all the fighting, all the time struggling to survive seeing this place full of laughing, happy kids around his own age just felt kind of odd. He supposed it shouldn't feel that way considering that these people were more like him than anywhere else he had been but he was the new person here so it had to be inevitable to feel like the odd guy out even here where people could at least understand what he was.


Unfortunately until he learned where to go, what to do and carved out some niche here for himself this situation wasn't going to change. Oh sure he had watched the orientation video and had plenty of stuff explained to him since he had arrived but as with most things in life you had to really experience them before certain things sank in. That was the point Ash was at now. He just had to figure out how this place worked and fortunately he didn’t mind doing it alone if he had to.



Currently Ash was focused on trying to figure out where he was supposed to be. He wasn't sure how participating in these scheduled training sessions and camp events was going to help him in the long run but he was at least going to give it a shot. Besides, he was enjoying the nice break from having to fight for survival and wasn't too anxious for it to come to an end just yet. That being said if he could at least find his way to the archery range he might be able to get some of the training he had scheduled for today out of the way so he could go explore.



Dodging a few guys driving a chariot towards some kind of track Ash began looking around in all directions trying to find some kind of clue to where he was going and not realizing he looked as new and clueless as he actually was. He supposed he could ask someone but he was stubborn and determined and currently too distracted by the task at hand to really give these strangers around him much of a thought.

[Kevin Cook]

Kevin didn't like that his cabin had an arena session with the Ares cabin one bit. Maybe it was because he dyed all their clothes pink one time, but those Ares kids always liked to pick on and bully Kevin. But him running away from the Ares kids really distracted from his practice time even though he thought it would stop when he put glitter in their underwear. He was going to talk to Marius about it getting switched, but he hadn't seen his cabin leader since he left for the quest and he was supposedly back by now. Kevin could do a few things as counselor, but switching up the cabin's schedule was not one of those things.

Kevin was currently ducked behind a dummy as a group of Ares boys walked past him. He let out a sigh of relief as he straightened up once they were gone. That was a few more minutes to himself before the kids found him. His eyes scanned the arena as he tried to find his cabin or someone to prank, whichever came first. His eyes landed on a blonde boy. The new kid, if Kevin remembered correctly. He was Aphrodite... or was it Athena? He was from one of those A cabins. Just, hopefully, not Ares.

A thought formulated in his head as he straightened up and brushed off the dirt on his pants. He marched over to the boy as he made sure he had his shoulders back to make him look authoritative.

"Excuse me, sir," Kevin spoke as he approached the boy. "You can't go past this point until you're initiated."

[Ashley Bates]

Well at least he seemed to be getting closer. The sound of swords and the sight of kids walking around in armor meant that he had to be heading in the right direction. In any case it looked like he had stumbled across an arena of some kind and maybe the archery range would be inside. There was only one way to find out of course so shouldering his backpack he began making his way towards it without hesitation.


He didn't make it far before he noticed another boy, older in age, approaching him. Ash wasn't really sure what the guy could want but whatever it was he definitely wanted to make himself look important. The hunter watched the guys march, saw the set of his shoulders and all of that went together to form the image of someone trying to show off in Ash's mind.

From the first words the guy spoke warning bells seemed to play in the mind of the son of Apollo. Ash wasn't sure but he thought it had to do with the formal way the guy addressed him. Who went around calling random people sir especially when they were those people were younger? It didn't make much sense and this stuff about initiation? He supposed it could be possible the guy was telling the truth but a nagging suspicion told Ash he should be wary of this one.

Ash stopped in his tracks and gave this new guy an impassive look. He wanted to get to his training but he would have to deal with this older boy first. "Initiation for what?" He said in a simple and mild tone as he glanced around at their apparent lack of an audience. "And why are you the only who seems to know or care about it?"

[Kevin Cook]

Kevin crossed his arms across his chest as he sized the boy up. He kept his face expressionless as he looked at the boy in front of him. As he learned from the best mystery writers, you never give anything away until the end. One look on the boy and Kevin's mind was made up. He could tell from the way he walked around camp that he was too serious, but now talking to him, he knew that something was stuck up in him and he needed to let loose. It was a good thing that Kevin was there to provide those services.

He raised a single eyebrow at the boy as he spoke calmly and slowly, "So they didn't tell you?" He readjusted his arms and shifted his weight as he continued. "Every camper needs to go through initiation before they can go back there. It's camp tradition. I can't let you back there until you're initiated. I'm surprised nobody told you about it."

[Ashley Bates]

Ash didn't miss the fact that this new guy had neglected to answer his question and his eyes narrowed in speculation when he continued on. As the saying went he may have been born at night but it wasn't last night. Personally Ash had no clue about the time of day he was born and had never thought to ask but the point still remained the same. Something seemed fishy here and he would have been foolish not to be on guard.

Still, he supposed he probably really wouldn't be getting to where he needed to go yet anyways. He would have to deal with this guy who was in his way and since he wasn't really looking to start a fight here it kind of limited his options for doing that. This being the case he pressed on. "Regardless of if they should have or not, no one did."

Ash had never been a very emotional guy and he didn't really show any now as he talked. He was not annoyed, at least not yet, he just wanted to be about his business no matter what this guy's idea of initiation involved. "What exactly do I have to do to get past you?"

[Kevin Cook]

Kevin had wondered briefly if his ploy wasn't going to work on the new guy. Usually, the newbies just relaxed and that's when he would pull the prank. However, this guy in front of him was too... guarded. Kevin didn't like it. It was like one of those readers who knew how a novel was going to end just by reading the first bit. Time for a plot twist he thought to himself as he fought down a smirk.

"Well," he said as he stuck his hands in his pockets. "In order to get past me, you have to go through initiation. And the initiation is this..." He grabbed the packet of pink glitter he had in his pocket and whipped it out and threw it at him. If everything went well, the boy in front of him would be a pink, glittery mess.

[Ashley Bates]

Ash watched as Kevin reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, indistinguishable packet of some kind. Then before he could react the guy hurled it straight at him. Ash realized what was happening the moment before it did but by then it was too late. The packet hit him dead center in his chest and exploded in a cloud of pink, sparkly stuff that immediately clung to him as glitter is prone to do. Before he knew it Ash was covered in the stuff from head to toe and looked like a craft project gone horribly wrong.

Ash blinked. He stood motionless for a moment not really knowing how to react. If he showed any sign of anger it was very minor because for the most part he kept the same stoney expression that he had been wearing from the very beginning. In fact Ash showed very little emotion at all and maybe that was the scariest part. For a tense moment there was no reaction except for the hunter looking at his sparkly clothes.

Finally he razed his gaze to look back at Kevin. “Is that it?” Ash said plainly and his stoic expression left little room to doubt that this was anything other than an honest question. It looked as if he hadn’t even understood this simple joke at all and truthfully that was probably the case. To call Ash’s sense of humor dry was something like calling a Rolls-Royce a vehicle with four wheels, something like a hay wagon. His sense of humor wasn’t just dry it was the Sahara Desert of senses of humor. “Is that really all you stopped me for?”

[Kevin Cook]

Kevin waited and waited during the moments after he threw the glitter to see what the boy's reaction would be. He was hoping he would laugh it off and not get mad and try to attack him. Kevin second guessed himself and wondered if he was wrong and this kid was a child of Ares. That wouldn't be good at all. He waited and prepared himself to run away if needed, but then he got the reaction. "Is that it?" Kevin stopped in his tracks and stared at the boy.

"Is that it?" repeated as his mouth when a little slack jawed. But then he closed his mouth and scrunched his eyebrows together as he put together all the pieces. "Is that how you respond to a joke?" He asked as his heartbeat quickened as he got annoyed. "That was a brilliant joke and all you have to say is Is that it? How dare you not appreciate the art of a joke, you fun-sucker."

[Ashley Bates]

Clearly something had gone wrong. Ash didn't understand what it was but this other guy certainly seemed to be upset about something. If it was a joke then it wasn’t really a surprise that he had missed the point. Ash himself knew full well how poor his imagination was in regards to such things and made no excuses for it. However, if this guy had just stopped him to play some kind of prank then why was he the one getting upset when it fell flat?

“I’m not really the joking type.” That was about as apologetic as Ash got. ”Besides, what’s the big deal? I’ve got archery practice and I don’t really have time for silly games.” The son of Apollo shrugged. King of the fun suckers he may be but at least he held no misconceptions about it. ”I’m guessing it really isn’t your job to ‘initiate’ people so what are you doing here, just going around and throwing packets of glitter at random campers?”

[Kevin Cook]

"Not the joking type?" Kevin repeated as his mouth visibly dropped. He couldn't believe his ears or his eyes. Did he really meet the one person in the world that didn't get pranks? Was he never pranked as a child? Kevin closed his mouth and straightened up before jabbing a finger into the guy's chest. "You listen here. I'm a Hermes kid and it's in our nature to prank the camp. You are the newbie and hadn't been pranked yet, so I was taking upon myself to initiate you with that prank." He lowered his finger as a mischievous grin crept up on his face. "But I just think you just made yourself a even better target for the future." He took a step back and bowed while pointing his arms in the direction of the archery range. "But go. Shoot your little arrows. But the Hermes cabin will prank you soon."

[Ashley Bates]

Ash thought he was being pretty clear in his statements but apparently this other guy either couldn’t believe him or didn’t want to. Either way was fine with the son of Apollo but he didn’t have the patience to sit around while Kevin worked it out. His clothes were covered in glitter which was bad enough but he had things he wanted to do which he couldn’t get to because he was here and that was worse.

“Hermes…” Ash repeated slowly as if committing the god’s name to memory. He didn’t initially have any quarrel against the god or his offspring but this was a bit ridiculous in his mind. Perhaps the boy’s threats would come to nothing but Ash didn’t like being toyed with and that was precisely what he felt like was going on here. Still, if Kevin wanted to bring the entire Hermes cabin down on him Ash would have to be on guard for the boy in the future and be ready to put a stop to his foolishness, whatever it may be.

”I don’t see why you’re upset but if that’s how you want to play it, fine.” If Kevin had wanted some reaction out of Ash he got it now as the boy’s patience began to wear thin. It was never smart to put those you wished to surprise on notice and now that he had been the Hermes boy might find him a tougher target than expected. ”Just know I don’t take kindly to people wasting my time.”

[Kevin Cook]

This. Boy. Was. Dense. Kevin couldn't believe it! It was like he ran across a reader who didn't read into the symbolism and foreshadowing of his novels. This had to change. There was no way this boy would survive camp like this. Not if Kevin had any say in it. He straightened back up and brushed himself off as he started to walk away.

"Oh, don't worry about me," he called over his shoulder with a smirk. "I'm not wasting your time anymore. Go shoot your little arrows. I would just watch your back and sleep with one eye open from now on." He chuckled to himself as he continued walking away. The upcoming days were going to be good.