Hideaway Blues (Open)

[Drew Desher]

Drew sat on the beach looking out at the dark waves as they rolled in and broke against the shore. In his mind his thoughts were far away but the sounds of the sea and the silence were relaxing. That was good because apart from relaxing and dozing out here in the fresh air with the sea breeze hitting him in the face he probably wouldn't get any sleep tonight. His Huntington's was acting up causing those stupid uncontrollable jerks and spasms that he couldn't really ignore and that reminded him just how mortal he really was. No, there would be no sleep from him tonight but maybe the sea would help him relax a little. One could only hope.

As he sat and watched he began to whistle a slow and somber tune. It was something in a blues style that he had actually come up with himself and the sound of it, which carried quite well over the empty waters, was a little haunting in its loneliness. That he did write his own music was something he didn't really tell a lot of people about. Not that he had a lot of people to tell but that was beside the point. Still, music was a part of him and that was something that he couldn't deny. It was one of the few things that seemed to stay constant in his life and in a life that was seriously lacking in things to ground himself to that made it all the more important.

He hoped he didn't lose the ability as his disease progressed. He had heard a lot of things about Huntington's Disease over the years and none were good. Still, he hoped he would at least be allowed to keep his mind. Things didn't always work out like that though. He had seen enough of the world to know that first hand. That being said he had gotten good at letting go of things over the years. He had learned to live in the moment so he would do that now and while the future held a lot of uncertainties for him he would keep on whistling the blues while he was able. If anyone had ever had a right to it was him.

[Viv Jennings]

Viv was avoiding her cabin, again, and her idiotic siblings, again. They never understood her and they understood her less after her accident. They were the children of death and they were supposed to be comfortable with it. Well, none of them actually lived through their death and lived to tell their tale. So it was very rare that she actually stuck around her siblings for any longer than an hour. She even slept in places in order to avoid her siblings. On days like today, she would be hanging out with Zeke, her Siamese cat that had a mouth of his own, but he was nowhere in sight. So instead, she wandered around camp to every place she knew that her siblings wouldn't be and that led her eventually to the beach.

It was a nice and quiet stroll on the beach. It seemed a little too nice, but the breeze was a bit chilly and Viv didn't think to bring her jacket at all, so she crossed her arms across her chest. Usually, she tried to avoid major bodies of water, but for some reason, the ocean didn't bother her as much. She really had no purpose of walking along the beach until hear it. It was music. Low and somber. And something about it just tugged at Viv that she had to investigate. It was further down the beach until she found the source of it.

It was a boy. Dark hair. She hadn't seen him around camp before, but as far as she could tell, it wasn't one of her idiotic siblings. And something was different about him. Viv couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she decided to walk up to him. "That's a nice song you have there," she said when she was close enough that he could hear her. "Are you a musician or something?"

[Drew Desher]

Who was he supposed to be? It was a question that he had asked himself many times over the years. Just as many times he thought he had answered that question only to find himself right back where he started asking the same question over again. He had thought that he was supposed to be a son but his mother had apparently moved on and forgotten him. He had thought he was supposed to be a demigod but what kind of a funny demigod did he make cursed as he was with a disease that would eventually bring him to his knees? Now he found himself playing the part of betrayer to the gods, a spirit of vengeance, a means to bring about a change. Something certainly needed to change and he was willing to do it but he couldn't help but wonder if this role wouldn't turn out like all the others. Only time would tell.

His tune carried most of these lonesome, confused thoughts with it as he whistled and even though the night was quiet Drew was so lost in the music that he didn't notice anyone approaching until they got closer. By that time it was too late to do anything about it so he let his song finish out as he heard someone speak up behind him. Drew turned slightly to glance at the girl that had joined him and then turned his gaze back out to the sea as he thought of how to respond. If he had known she was within earshot he probably wouldn't have started up at all but he hadn't and so here they were.

"I don't pretend to be something I can't." He said with a slight shrug of his shoulders as he kept his eyes glued towards the water. "I suppose I have some talent for it though." There was a slight pause as something of a frown passed over his face as if he felt something unpleasant but when he spoke again it was in a tone that was curious rather than annoyed as his words might suggest. "Don't you know it's not nice to sneak up on people without warning?"

[Viv Jennings]

Don't you know it's not nice to sneak up on people without warning? Viv chuckled as she shook her head. "I can't necessarily sneak up on you if I announce my presence beforehand. It kinda defeats the purpose." She shrugged her shoulders a bit as a slight smirk crept onto her lips. "Like, I could not let you know I was coming until last second and do something... I don't know.... whatever my siblings do whenever they decide to be idiots." She was pretty sure they did a lot of idiotic stuff, but she was never around to witness it and she preferred it better that way.

She looked at the boy for a moment before she raised an eyebrow at him. "So if you're not a musician, then who are you? Or are you just known as that Boy-Who-Whistles-On-the-Beach? That's a bit of a mouthful if you ask me."

[Drew Desher]

Who was he? If he knew that for certain then he wouldn’t be sitting out here asking himself that exact same question. The girl had no clue about all of that though and she probably wouldn’t really care for him barfing all those inner thoughts all over her when she had just been coming out for a walk along the beach. That being the case he decided to go with answer that required the least amount of explanation on his part. “You can call me Drew if you like though Girl-who-creeps-on-the-beach isn’t much easier.”

Drew wasn’t sure who this girl was but she at least seemed like she could take a little sarcasm especially since she apparently liked to dish it out. Not that he really would have cared if she didn’t. This was simply the way he was and he had never really seen the point in trying to change that to please other people. Still, it was good to know that he wouldn't have to worry about hurting any of those pesky little feelings most people complained so much about. "Hermes cabin?" He asked wondering about her sibling comment. They were the most well known trouble makers around camp and if that was the case he supposed he couldn't blame her for the comment.

[Viv Jennings]

Viv rolled her eyes. "Well, Drew," she said with a bit of a smirk on her face, "it's not really creeping if you announce your presence beforehand like I did. You wouldn't even know if I was here if I was doing my creeping to my fullest ability." She chuckled lightly as she shook her head. "But people call me Viv. Just Viv" She wasn't quite sure about the Drew person in front of her, but she didn't dislike his company either. If anything, the boy sure knew how to whistle and carry the tune.

She laughed as Drew attempted to guess her cabin. "I would actually take them over the idiots that live in my cabin," she said before she decided to sit down on the beach next to him, but made sure there was a comfortable distance between the two of them. "Nah, I'm one of the evil kids that roams around in the Hades cabin. And, yes, my soul is as pitch black as you think it is," she said with a smirk before she ran her hand across the sand by her side.

[Drew Desher]

Viv. It was a simple name, kind of like his and he liked it. It was probably short for Vivian or something like that but Drew didn’t think that was particularly important. What was important was that the girl didn’t seem like the typical demi-god girl he would find around camp and that meant that he didn’t think he would mind her presence here even though it was interrupting his self-imposed separation from everyone else.

He glanced over at her as she said her piece about being one of the “evil kids”. Not Hermes but judging by the sarcasm that dripped from her every word he was guessing that the evil she was talking about made her a Hades kid most likely. He chuckled a little at the thought of her really being as evil as she was hinting but he doubted that was the case. As for being considered evil he thought that he could sympathize with her on that and maybe it was even true of him on some levels. Who knew anymore? “I’ve got you beat there. Thanatos is my dad and you should see people avoid me like the plague.”

It was true. Most people did avoid him if they knew who he was. Granted he didn’t go out of his way to make himself known either but it wasn’t like he was actively avoiding people. At least not usually. “As for being evil you don’t really seem the type to like being labeled so I guess the jury will just have to stay out on that one for now.”

[Viv Jennings]

Viv turned her head to look at Drew as she raised her eyebrows at him. "Thanatos, eh?" she said with a bit of a smirk on her face. "You might have me beat, but I don't think so. You see, your dad is associated with butterflies. Everybody likes butterflies. If they don't, then they're completely a horrible person. It's like not liking puppies." Her smirk got a little bit wider as she looked at Drew. "Unless you're going to tell me right now that you don't like butterflies, then I completely understand why people avoid you like the plague."

She laughed slightly as she looked away as she shook her head. "But it's probably nice being a Thanatos kid. Then you don't have the stigma of being one of the Big Three's." She shrugged as she looked over at Drew and looked him over once before she looked him in the face. "So what are you doing out here by yourself?"

[Drew Desher]

"Butterflies and puppies?" Drew asked with a hint of smirk in his voice. "Better not let that get out or it’s really going to ruin that queen of darkness reputation you've got going on." He wasn't sure about Viv's reasoning on the whole butterfly theory but he was willing to let her run with it. The son of Thanatos wasn't really one who opened up to a lot of people so maybe he was a bigger part of the problem than he liked to admit. Granted he couldn't really afford to get close to others when the only thing in his future was death. How irresponsible would that be to put someone through the trouble of getting to know him when he didn’t know if he would be here next year or next month for that matter? No, it was better to go at it alone. It had worked well for him so far in any case. “As for which I like, I’m more of a cat person so maybe that’s the problem.”

Drew listened and shrugged. He couldn’t really say much about being a kid of the Big Three. He was sure they were probably just as sucky at parenting as his dad was so there was no argument there. All the kids here got the short end of the stick in that regard. He also wasn’t really interested in getting into an argument about who had it worse. The guy with the terminal illness always won that one anyways. Instead he decided to answer the girl’s question albeit without getting into the real reason he was out here. “The same as you I suppose. Couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to be around the others in camp. This seemed like the best alternative.”

[Viv Jennings]

"Hey," Viv said as she looked over at Drew and pointed a finger at him. "I like my reputation as the queen of darkness. If that changes, then I'll know that it was you and you should sleep with one eye open." Viv smirked a bit to let him know she was kidding mostly. Gods forbid her siblings and the rest of the camp find out that there was a different side of her. But for some reason, she was okay with Drew slightly knowing. Maybe it was because death brought people together.

Nevertheless, Viv laughed when Drew said he was more of a cat person. "And that means I might like you a little bit better, Drew," she said with a smirk. "And my cat might like you too... but Zeke is Siamese and they have a mind of their own. So maybe he won't like you. Who knows." But she listened to his reason about why he was out here and Viv couldn't help but nod her head in agreement. This did sure beat being with her siblings in the cabin and she found the water slightly relaxing. "And now you're stuck with me. So I guess it's not the greatest alternative," she said with a chuckle and a shrug.

[Drew Desher]

Drew smirked slightly at her objection about her reputation but kept his gaze firmly fixed on the horizon to keep most of it hidden from her. “Fortunately I don’t have many people to tell.” He wasn’t really worried about the Hades girl. She certainly didn’t seem like the traditional Hades kid and that meant the idea that she was going to stalk him in his sleep was probably her just blowing smoke. Maybe it worked on some people but he had traveled too far and seen too much to be that gullible. Still, maybe she didn’t really want him to believe it either judging by how friendly she was being.

That realization was only compounded when he discovered that Viv was apparently a cat person too. He had walked right into that one. Truthfully he really didn’t mind cats but animals had never really been on good terms with him. The only difference with cats was that they were rarely on good terms with anyone so generally he couldn’t tell if it was just him or if they were just being aloof which at least gave them a few points in Drew’s book. Apparently though Viv had a pet cat and now she was really interested in him. “Well you may be a little disappointed. Most animals, even cats, tend to avoid me. Maybe yours is different but I don’t really have the best track record with pets in general.”

He paused for a moment to glance over at her when she mentioned him being stuck with her. He didn’t really mind the company of course but he wondered how stuck he really was. Viv didn’t seem to be the clingy type of girl after all. “As for being stuck with you, you don’t seem particularly sticky. I bet I could walk off right now and you wouldn’t even follow.” He wondered how she would react to that. He wasn't particularly thinking of walking away at the moment especially since he was here first but he was a chronic loner and he had no problem hurting feelings if it got his point across. The only thing was though that he was kind of enjoying her company. A little. Enough to add after a few moments had passed "If I wanted to that is."

[Viv Jennings]

"Zeke is pretty used to the dead thing I apparently radiate off," Viv said with a bit of a shrug. It was true, but her dead aurora was much stronger than others she met. That was pretty much expected after her accident. "So there's a good chance he'll might like you. But who knows. He is a cat after all and a quite possessive one as well." She didn't want to disclose how he almost mauled a couple of Apollo kids after her accident.

She raised her eyebrows when he mentioned that he could leave right now. "And here I thought we were having a good time," she said dryly as she shrugged again. "But no worries. I can always sic my cat on you later... if I wanted to, that is," she said teasingly as she used his words against him.

[Drew Desher]

It was all well and good that her cat was used to the whole child of Hades thing but he had found his deadness to always be a little more intense even than the Hades kids. Perhaps it was because he was a child of Thanatos or maybe it was the fact that he actually was a dead man walking. Whatever the case he wondered how her cat would feel around that. "There's a first time for everything I suppose." Who knew, maybe Zeke would turn out to be the one animal that actually liked him but he had his doubts. Still, there was only one way to find out and if he ever got the chance he was interested in seeing what Viv's pet thought of him.

He glanced over at her again when she teased him. He deserved it so he wasn't upset but he was glad she wasn't easily offended. Those kinds of people didn't usually last long around him. In response to her statement though he laced his hands behind his head and laid back on the sandy shore simultaneously positioning himself so that he could get a better view of her and saying without really saying that he wasn't going anywhere for a while. The twitches and shakes that had kept him up earlier were all but gone now and he felt comfortable enough to relax a little in the girl's presence. "The company is fine but the view sucked.” He paused here for a moment keeping his opinion about his current view of Viv to himself even if he thought it quite a bit better. “I think you can avoid sending your cat out to do your dirty work for a little while longer."

[Viv Jennings]

But the view sucked. Viv raised her eyebrows at that statement of his. She had a feeling he had implied quite a few other things, but she wasn't going to call him out on it quite yet. But he really had to be delusional if he thought that the beach was a horrible view. She just watched him calmly as he was just stretched out laying on the sand. He looked a little bit more relaxed than when she first came across him, but she figured that wasn't a horrible thing at all.

"Good," she said plainly as she nodded her head. "I think Zeke was going to go on another strike if I sent him out on another mission... or maybe he'd try to bring home your dead body... He doesn't really understand how to hide the evidence," she said with a slight smirk on her face.

[Drew Desher]

Honestly looking out at the horizon wasn’t so bad. In fact, he came out here at night pretty frequently. However, it wasn’t every night that he had pleasant company and he didn’t feel like wasting it. He may be dying but he wasn’t dead yet and Viv was definitely cute. For the most part though his attention was pretty harmless. Life, his life especially, was too short to form bonds with others. That and he wasn’t cruel enough to force his problems on anyone else least of all someone he actually got along with.

“Well cats do like to bring back trophies. Not sure there’s much of me to show off though.” He returned her smirk wondering if she played this game with everyone she met. Oh he was sure she put on a front for everyone just as sure as he did himself but he couldn’t help but think he was getting a little of who she really was right now. “I guess I should count myself lucky then. It sounds like you keep Zeke pretty busy taking care of all the people you don’t like.”