A lava wall.... seriously?!

[Ashley Bates]

Now she was just being contrary. A demigod’s life was conflict. Whether it be monsters or their godly parents the simple fact was that many of them would not live long happy lives. You just needed to look back at the demigods of old to see that. Did that mean their life was hell? Ash didn’t think so. It simply was what it was and they needed to make the best of it preferably by training themselves to handle life threatening situations before they happened outside the protective walls of camp. Nothing could be gained by being so fatalistic about it.

“If you want to look at it that way.” He said and left it at that. Whatever it took to get you through your training though he had to admit he saw little benefit in looking at that way. Then again Ash was often confounded by the ways the other demigods acted. His stone cold practicality rarely let him see eye to eye with others who didn’t share his viewpoints.

The conversation seemed to turn away from the wall though and Ash was content to let it. As she spoke he saw again that she clearly wasn’t getting his point. “I suppose I am a passing fair singer though it is not a skill I practice on a regular basis. Healing however, I have never had much of an aptitude at that beyond first aid.” He gave her a shrug. “Anyways it’s not the abilities that I mean.” All that he had heard of Apollo seemed to suggest his father was arrogant, vain and only concerned about seeking his own glory. Attributes that Ash had no patience for. While he did share similarities with his father Ash considered himself far more focused on what was really important. “How about you. Do you share all of your father’s common attributes? Yes, his abilities make you a natural fighter but do you take on all the traits your father is known for or agree with everything he has done?”

[Atalanta Nikolaou]

❝

Come, surf the clouds, Race the dark, It feeds from the runs undone, Meet me where the cliff greets the sea Do you think you can keep up?

❞

"I don't know who my father is." She told him plainly and looked towards the sea for a bit. She stay ed silent for a few moments, but she decided that what she had said would make little sense to him without any further explanation. "I was told he was a Marine my mom met in Middle East, that he was a brave man even if he was on the hotheaded side of things. That's who my mom knew." She turned to look at Ash again. "Then a month ago I learn that my dad is the least favorite among gods. Ares, the god of War, Bloodlust and excellence. That father I don't know. All I've heard was his trial, how he supposedly is the father or patron of the Amazons and that he always gets his ass kicked by Athena." She scrunched up her nose a bit as she remembered one last bit of info she knew about Ares. "Not to mention the love affair with Aphrodite. That's a lethal combo." She sighed as she thought how love and war could destroy cities if combined. Take Troy for example and you're all set.

"I do share some of his traits. I'm not above breaking a nose if someone angers me, I don't back down from a fight and I don't mind starting one. But in the end I am my own person and not just a copy of my dad. That would be weird and I don't need it."

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deltra of gangnam style

[Ashley Bates]

It didn’t take Ash long to figure out what she was talking about when she spoke up again. She was not the only one who didn’t know her divine parent either in their godly form or the form that their human parent had fallen in love with. The gods weren’t really known for their tendency to stick around after all. In Ash’s case the problem was compounded by the fact that he didn’t really know his mother either. Having died shortly after child birth Ash had grown up with an overbearing grandfather who had always blamed him for the loss of his only daughter. It hadn’t been a happy situation and over all Ash was better for being here.

By all accounts Atalanta seemed to have the right of the situation though. There were all kinds of stories about their godly parents and Ash found it ridiculous to think that just because they were born from a certain god or goddess they were expected to act a certain way. "Exactly." He confirmed as Atalanta finished. "We are not our parents. Just because you are a child of Ares does not mean you are warlike and just because I'm a soon of Apollo doesn't mean I walk around thinking of poetry all day. I've been told I'm too serious." He shrugged. "Taking things seriously has kept me alive so why wouldn't I?"

[Atalanta Nikolaou]

❝

Come, surf the clouds, Race the dark, It feeds from the runs undone, Meet me where the cliff greets the sea Do you think you can keep up?

❞

Atalanta chuckled at his words. The idea of this serious guy walking around camp with his head on the clouds made a funny mental image. "Only a little bit?" She teased about him being serious but quickly shook her head to indicate she was just joking. "Your dad's more than poetry though. In your case I think you would spend most of your day doing athletic things. Cause in the end staying fit is part of what will save your ass in a sticky situation." She looked down at the ground.

"So how do we get down? The way we came or is there a different route?" She asked him looking around for a different route.

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deltra of gangnam style

[Ashley Bates]

Ash nodded silently. It was true his father was more than just poetry. Not all his skill with the bow had been self training and discipline. He had been born fast and accurate with natural instincts that helped him survive but he did not for one instance think that Apollo was watching over him in some special way. Expecting that was a good way to get yourself killed. No, if he wanted to survive he would have to stay sharp, keep focused and make sure that he was ready for what might come. Control the things he could control. For everything else he supposed the Fates would sort it out.

"And that is why we train. That is the reason for all this." He paused and watched the lava pour over the sides of the wall nearly catching a climber in the arm. "We learn as we do and hopefully that keeps us alive one day longer." Sometimes it was in the harshness of the training that they learned the most. That was certainly true for Ash. Then again his teachers had always said he liked learning things the hard way.

Ash glanced back at Atalanta once more as she spoke. She was looking for a way down and he guessed that was as good a way as any to bring their conversion to a close. Pausing long enough to give her one of his rare half smirks the son of Apollo gave her a nod and flipped over the wall. "That" he said as he began swinging himself from grip to grip along the decent. "Is something else you will have to learn."

[Atalanta Nikolaou]

❝

Come, surf the clouds, Race the dark, It feeds from the runs undone, Meet me where the cliff greets the sea Do you think you can keep up?

❞

Her attention draw in to him just in time to see him smirk and swing himself down the way they had come, leaving her alone to the top caught her by surprise a bit. "Oi! Did you just smirk?" She called down to him as she too, began to descend. But going upwards was not the same as going down. Down was always harder and the walls had closed in enough to make it more dangerous than it had already been. It would've been very difficult to catch up to him. Not with the headstart he had. Yet somehow that didn't seem to bother her much, so she focused on getting back down without being burned to a fine crisp.

----
Do we close it here, or do you still want to go?

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deltra of gangnam style