Piece by Piece | Theo

[Hailey Nichols]

As Hailey walked towards the Hecate cabin, she immediately regretted her plan. Well, it wasn't a plan more it was a thoughtful idea. It was about a week or two after she was turned back to a human and was reunited with her Hephaestus siblings. But after she left the Hecate cabin, she felt like her words didn't express enough how grateful she was that they helped her and managed to get her out of her jackalope form.

She looked down at the stuffed jackalope in her hands. It was a rather silly idea and she was preparing herself for Theo to laugh in her face, but it had to be done. She took a deep breath as she walked up to the Hecate porch and she paused right before the door. She had to give herself a mini pep talk before she got the nerve to reach out and knock on the door. Now time would only tell if Theo was there or not.

(tag: Theo Dean )

[Theo Dean]

Theo loved days when he could be lazy. Searching for ancient spells and magical artifacts was all well and good but there was something to be said about getting to just sit down in a chair with good book and wasting the day away. Such as it was that was precisely what the son of Hecate was doing as a mistform drifted around him cleaning the cabin for him. He wasn't really expecting any visitors at the time. In fact, he was kind of hoping that his peaceful day would continue uninterrupted but then the knock came at his.

Theo glanced up from the book he was reading to stare at the door and sighed. None of his other siblings were here. He was all alone and supposed he could just ignore it but if he didn't get it then whoever it was might just come back and that would almost be worse. No, he needed to handle this right now and maybe he could scare the uninvited guest away for a while.

Standing up Theo had the mistform bring him one of his cloaks which he slipped into as he walked to the door. Drawing the hood up to conceal his face in shadows he worked a few quick spells to darken the room and send some must billowing out around him. With another spell Theo filled the room with eerie dancing lights and then dropping his voice to a raspy whisper he opened the door. "Who dares disturb the cabin of the lady Heca..." He began before he noticed who was standing there. When he finally did his demeanor instantly changed as his voice went back to normal and he pulled the hood away. "Oh hey Hailey. How's my favorite girl turned jackalope turned girl today?"

[Hailey Nichols]

Hailey swore she was standing there forever waiting for someone to open the door. She was about to turn on her heels and leave defeated when she heard the door open. The cabin was dark and there was mist billowing out of the door. Hailey’s eyes widened as the lights suddenly went crazy and there was a hooded figure. She was about to scream and turn on her heels and hightail it outta there, when Theo suddenly dropped the act.

She took deep breaths to calm her racing heart as she smiled sheepishly at Theo. It was weeks since she last saw him, but he was still looking as good as she remembered. “Hey Theo,” she said quietly as she tried to regain her nerve again. “I’m doing okay… I have a present for you… I mean the cabin… but it can be yours if you want to…” She blushed as she stumbled through something she practiced multiple times in her head. She decided to stop talking as she presented him with the stuffed jackalope.

[Theo Dean]

The girl looked about ready to bolt and Theo suddenly realized how this all must look. Fixing her with an apologetic grin he gave a little chuckle. “Sorry I get a bit carried away sometime. No worries though. It’s all part of the show.” For once he was glad he didn’t scare someone off even though she still looked pretty panicked. Perhaps it had something to do with the present she was holding out to him. Theo looked at it and then back at the girl and seemed to understand. He nodded to himself and then reached out to take the stuffed jackalope.

“You didn’t have to get us a gift Hailey.” He said as he finally opened the door to her fully. "Come in though. You made the trip you might as well stay for a while since you abandoned our cabin for the Hephaestus cabin with my doppleganger. Must be weird to realize you can't even escape me over there." He was only teasing again but the fact that one of Hailey’s siblings looked exactly like him was something that he hadn’t even gotten over himself. "Thanks for the gift though. It's not a very good substitute for the real thing but hopefully that's all behind us now." He paused for a moment examining the stuffed animal in his hand. "Where did you even find a stuff jackalope?"

[Hailey Nichols]

“I kinda pegged you for being the theatrical type,” Hailey said softly with a weak smile as she reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. But she waited for his reaction for the gift. She thought he would laugh in her face or at least throw it back at her. She didn’t know why her brain was suddenly coming up with all these horrible situations, but it was. Her smile got a little bit bigger as she shrugged her shoulders. “I figured you needed a new cabin mascot since yours kinda is not a jackalope anymore.”

But she hesitated at the invitation of coming inside. She really didn’t come that far, only maybe a couple of yards. But Saphron wasn’t home as far as she could tell, so there was not telling what Theo would pull without an audience. Hailey didn’t want to seem rude, so she stepped into the cabin as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh, right… James…” she said at the mention of her brother. “I really don’t see him around a lot, so I don’t get to see you.. I mean… him a lot. But he’s nice as far as I can tell. You two aren’t really alike in personality at all.”

But the conversation turned back to the present and her face heated up a little bit more. “I might have paid the Hermes cabin a little bit to find one for me.” She shrugged her shoulders a bit. “They’re amazing at what they can find.”

[Theo Dean]

He chuckled at Hailey's explanation about the gift. He had just been kidding about the whole mascot thing but it was good to see the girl could take a joke and run with it. "A very, very poor substitute but it will do. Thank you Hailey, really." He sat the stuffed jackalope down on his bed and turned his attention back to the girl who still seemed kind of unsure about the whole idea of being here. He supposed that was mostly his fault and yeah maybe he felt a little bad about that but what could he say? If he didn't have his theatrics and bravado what else was there for him to hang his hat on?

The familiar name of Hailey's brother caught his attention and for once he was grateful for the distraction. "James, that's the one. Good looking guy if I do say so myself but not much good for a laugh. A shame really but I don't think the world could handle two Theo'es let alone the camp." Family still sounded like kind of a touchy subject for Hailey. Maybe the reunion hadn't gone as well as she had hoped which would have been truly unfortunate.

He looked her over trying to see if she gave off any tells of being unhappy but no, that wasn't it. Since that was the case he thought he might try and approach the subject if only to see how she was doing. "Remind me to put them to work when I find my next magic spell." He said and then paused for a moment in consideration. He wasn't sure if this was over stepping his bounds or not but he was concerned. "So how did the family reunion go? All settled back in at your old cabin?"

[Hailey Nichols]

"A real jackalope is hard to come by though," Hailey said with a bit of a smirk. "So a stuffed one is a good alternative for now." She shifted her arms across her chest slightly as she shifted from one foot to the other. She couldn't help but feel awkward since she became a human, especially around Theo or his doppelganger James. She blushed a bit at the mention of her brother. "I don't know if I could handle two of you," she said with a slight chuckle as she smiled slightly at him.

But then came the topic of her coming back home to the Hephaestus cabin. Theo knew all too well about the anxieties she had coming back to her cabin again after all she'd been through. "Well..." Hailey said as she pressed her lips together before she bit her lower lip slightly. "It went better than I expected," she finally admitted as she smiled slightly at Theo. "Like... my siblings were actually excited that I was back." She laughed a bit as she pushed her hair back with her hair. "I guess I was worried over nothing."

[Theo Dean]

Theo could have been mistaken but he thought that Hailey had just actually been joking around with him. That was progress in his book. He grinned widely and was about to say something about to make a teasing statement about how he didn’t know what she was talking about because he had a real live jackalope in front of him but she then said something that gave him an even better one. She didn’t know if she could handle two of him. Well, well, now wasn’t that something? “Oh I’m not that hard to handle am I? Or maybe there’s another reason you came over today…” He paused for a moment seeing if he could catch her off guard but then decided to give her a little break. “It’s the magic isn’t it? You wanted to see more magic.”

Poor girl. She had walked right into that one but it was good to hear that things had gone well with her family. If not she might have to find a way to get Hecate to adopt her and he wasn’t really sure how that would work. “See I knew it would all work out. Saphron’s going to be pretty upset though. She had me keeping your bed made just in case.” He chuckled. Saphron hadn’t really been involved at all but it might make her feel better to know she was being thought about. “So I guess everything is working out pretty well for you right?”

[Hailey Nichols]

Hailey's widened a bit as an intense blush crept onto her face. She readjusted her arms across her chest. Was there another reason she decided to come over besides giving them the stuffed jackalope? Yes, there was, but she wasn't going to say it right to his face. That would only give him more ammo to tease her and she was surprised she survived one evening with him. She chuckled lightly as she reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "You got me," she said with a weak smile. "I wanted more magic and you delivered it right at the door."

She laughed lightly at the comment of her bed still being made up for her. "I hate that she'll be disappointed though," she said with a slight shrug. "I can do a sleep over or something." But then she blushed harder when she realized what she was implying. Her nose twitched a bit as she reached up to cover it again as she looked at Theo sheepishly.

[Theo Dean]

Theo nodded knowingly as she hopped on his offered excuse faster than...well, faster than a jackalope. Her blush was evidence enough but he decided to let that go for now. If her face got any redder people might start confusing her with a tomato. "Well I try not to disappoint." He said playing along with her explanation. "Though I may have add pulling a jackalope out of a hat to my repertoire since I've actually got one now. It might be the most impressive trick I have."

Theo chuckled at her sleep over idea understanding perfectly well what she meant but, as usual, adding it to his never ending source of ammunition against the poor girl. "Well the invitation is always open. I'm sure we could figure out some interesting activities for a sleep over." The insinuation for what he really meant was there but as usual he backed off before he took things too far. Crush or not Hailey didn't seem to be ready for those types of advances yet.

Still grinning at her he gave a nod to her little nose twitch. "That still hasn't gone away huh?" He wondered if it would be permanent or if she would eventually grow out of it. In either case it wasn't really something she should be embarrassed about. Certainly after everything she had been through she had an excuse. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's kinda cute in fact and there's nothing wrong with being cute."

[Hailey Nichols]

"You'll be the talk of the camp," Hailey said as her weak smile grew a little stronger. "I don't know of anyone else who would could pull a jackalope out of their hate. You'll make an impression on all of them." She could feel herself relax a little bit around Theo, but felt herself on edge at the same time. She couldn't quite explain it, but she blamed it on all the time she spent in the Hecate cabin, especially when she first arrived and hid underneath his bed. Her eyes glanced over to the hiding spot before she looked up Theo and smiled sheepishly.

And that was proving to be a big mistake. He took her sleepover comment to the next level and Hailey didn't know she could blush even harder. "Well... umm..." she said as she tucked another strand of her hair behind her ear. "Maybe we can do truth or dare?" Her eyes widened as she realized what could imply. "Or we can do a board game like... Candyland!" Candyland was sweet and innocent, right? The complete opposite of the tone of their conversation.

And her nose couldn't stop twitching no matter what she did and Theo seemed to notice as well. "I guess some little bit of my former self decided to stay?" she said as she shrugged her shoulders. "At least it's the nose twitch thing and not like the horns... that would be a tad bit awkward." But her face heated up a bit more at his cute comment. "Thanks," she muttered as she adverted her eyes away from him.

[Theo Dean]

“I do always like to be the talk of the camp and all the ladies do love magic tricks.” He said distractedly. He wasn’t really planning on pulling a stuffed jackalope out of a hat but he did like the ladies. Granted that was his problem too. He liked all the ladies and deciding on one was just too hard. He wasn’t real sure if Hailey realized that or not. It hadn’t been much of an issue yet but going off of experience he knew it might become one. It all depended on what she was really looking for.

As for how she felt that seemed pretty clear just but the sheer number of times she was walking into those embarrassing comments. “Candyland is a pretty good one. I don’t think we have that one though. We may have to use Truth or Dare as our fall back which can be very fun in its own right.” He gave her another wink knowing that she was being tortured here but wanting to take it just a little bit further to see if he could get her to react and push her out of her shell a little.

"That is true." He said thinking about her horns comment. "If those had stuck around you would have likely had to deal with Saphron telling you that you were horny all the time which might end up being more embarrassing than having me make the occasional comment about it." He really should stop. If he didn't Hailey might be running out of here before too much longer but he really couldn't resist. Hopefully she would take all the attention as a compliment. "No problem Hailey and if anyone has any problem with it then send them to me. I would like to see anyone else turn a girl into a human again."

[Hailey Nichols]

Hailey was pretty sure she was going to die. Her face couldn't get this red without some consequences. She had to be dying from all the teasing and embarrassment she was going through. Yes, she brought most of it onto herself, but Theo always seemed to push that envelope just a bit further to see if he could get a different reaction from her. "But we can ask the Hermes cabin!" she said quickly when he winked at her as her eyes glanced over to the stuffed jackalope on his bed. He winked at her. Oh my gods. "They found me that and I'm pretty sure Candyland is much easier to find, so we don't have to use the backup plan!" Her logic was solid because she didn't know how Truth or Dare would go down with Theo, especially since he tried to get a kiss out of her right after she became human.

And Hailey rolled her eyes as she laughed slightly. "And I already had to deal with the horny comments when I was horny." She smirked a bit as she took deep breath to compose herself. Theo was going to tease her over that one. She could feel it. "So I rather not deal with those again. I think I got enough for a lifetime."

[Theo Dean]

“Oh I don’t know.” He said noncommittally when she mentioned the Hermes cabin. “We wouldn’t want to use them too much. I imagine they are pretty busy at Hermes what with all that running around they do. So many things to steal and not enough time.” Theo didn’t really mind the Hermes cabin that much. At least most of them had a sense of humor but he didn’t want to let Hailey off the hook that easy. “I guess we’ll have to see though. It’s a shame too. I bet I could get some pretty good dares in on you Hailey…or maybe you're more interested in telling the truth. What do you say?"

Theo shook his head. He was going to have to give the girl a break. By this point she was so flustered that he was really surprised she hadn't passed out and that wouldn't be good at all. Even if she had given him the perfect horny comment he just couldn't do it. For once Theo's smile turned benevolent and he looked at Hailey deciding that she had enough at least for a few minutes. "Oh you don't mean that Hailey. I bet you wouldn't know what to do without our friendly teasing whether you are horny or not." Well...he had tried.

[Hailey Nichols]

Hailey pressed her lips together as she took deep breaths as she pressed her lips together. She would have to balls up if she didn't want Theo to embarrass her to death and she was on the fast track for it. Now if she would only stop putting her foot in her mouth. “Well,” she said with a slight smile, “the truth has gotten me in trouble before and dares can get boring, but I know I can play a mean game of Candyland. I know you’ll not be disappointed if we play Candyland.” She nodded her head as to confirm that idea for herself, but she figured Theo would find more ways to tease her.

And he did with another horny comment. She smiled slightly as she reached up to tuck another piece of stray hair behind her ear. “I think you two are looking for excuses to say horny,” she said as her smile grew a little wider.