What did the dummy do to you? [C]

[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?

❞

The arena could become a nice place for her to clear her head in time. Atalanta was currently hacking away a training dummy with a celestial bronze sword, while her black pup, Lycaon was happily chewing a squeaky toy a few paces away as to not get in her way. Atalanta was repeating some basic drills they were shown the other day just so she could get the hang of it. She was getting good at wielding weapons pretty fast compared to other new campers and she wondered if that was a 'power' of hers. To be good with weapons, unless they were long ranged ones.

Soon, however, she grew bored and distracted. If only she had such a blade during her month on the run. If only her mother hadn't died. No! She pushed that thought away, but it kept resurfacing now and then. Growling in frustration, she went over to a weapon's rack and all but threw the sword back in place before pulling her nunchucks from her belt. It had become a habbit of hers, to carry her nuchucks around, whether they were hidden in the custom inner pocket of a jacket or simply hanging from her belt towards her back.

Taking a deep breath in order to calm down and focus, she took a ready stance and began to swirl and go over a very basic set. Perhaps doing something familiar could help her ease up a little. She had been at Camp for a bit over a week now, but this still felt strange and not at all like home. The fact she no longer had a home to go back to didn't help either.

Her execution grew steadily faster and more aggresive. Before Atalanta could fully process it, she had smacked the training dummy so hard with her weapon, that the wood splinted and the dummy collapsed in a heap. "Oh shit!" Her eyes widened as she realized the damage she had made and she looked around frantically, as Lycaon came over to her, squeaky toy in mouth, and nuzzled her comfortingly.

WORDS ● Harper Jones ● NOTES

deltra of gangnam style

[Daphne Scotts]

Daphne didn't like to train in the arena with Shogun. As much as she loved the monkey, it was also a troublemaker to the extreme. It liked to mess with the weapons. Mess with the campers. You named it and Shogun most likely already done it. However, Shogun didn't seem like he was going to get in trouble today, since he was hanging out along the walls of the arena. That meant that Daphne could actually train with her sword. She couldn't be the camp's best sword fighter just by not training.

So she picked a dummy a couple away from another girl who was training as well. Daphne took a deep breath as she gripped her sword in both hands before she started going through the motions. The basics. You couldn't do anything well if you didn't have the basics down. She went through the basics, making sure her technique was perfect when she heard the crack of one of the dummies breaking. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence since it almost happened daily, but was uncommon was the oh shit she heard afterwards. Daphne stopped in the middle of the move as she looked over at the girl and the pile of dummy at her feet. Daphne didn't recognize her from around camp, so she could've been new. Then again, Daphne found it hard lately to keep up with everyone. "First time breaking a dummy?" she asked as she offered the girl a soft smile.

[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?

❞

When someone asked her if it was her first time breaking a dummy, Atalanta turned around in a fluid motion, derived from years of martial arts experience, to look at the girl who had spoken. She was blonde and had a sword in hand. In fact she was training so close that bothered Atalanta. She had been so focused that she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings. She scolded herself for that as she passed a hand through her hair, messing them up a bit as she was nervous about what kind of punishment she was going to receive for breaking training equipment. If a casual climbing wall was tweaked with freaking lava running down from the sides had been any indication, she would hate to imagine what punishments would be like.

"Um.... not exactly." She began to reply to the girl, quickly putting her nunchucks away. "I mean... It's the first time here. My very first time was during a shotokan practise in Middle School." She explained. Lying to the girl would be both meaningless -she was there, looking at the broken dummy at her feet- and cowardly. No, she would have to take the hit like a proper fighter. Lycaon chewed down on his toy, letting out a SQUEEE as he rocked it back and forth as if fighting with it.

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[Daphne Scotts]

There weren't any punishments for breaking the dummies around camp, unless the rules recently changed. But Daphne could tell the girl was hesitant on letting her know the truth as she messed with her hair a bit. And having her sword out probably wasn't helping matters either. She sheathed her sword before she crossed her arms loosely over her chest as she looked at the girl as she stared to explain her situation. Daphne's smile got a little bit wider before she said, "It's one of the hazards of being a demigod to be honest. We're slightly stronger than mortals and dummies tend to break. I think Chiron has to replace a good dozen every month."

She was about to introduce herself before she heard the big old SQUEEE. She jumped slightly before laughing as she realized what was going on. She looked down at the dog as she smiled. "That's a cute dog you have there," she said before she looked up and extended her hand to the girl. "And I'm Daphne, by the way. Daughter of Zeus."

[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 when the girl jumped a little in surprise at the sudden squeaking noise. "I'm Atalanta, daughter of Ares, and this goofy black ball of fur is Lycaon." She said as she took the offered hand in a quick, but strong, handshake. So this girl was a daughter of the King of the Gods, the big guy himself, huh? Atalanta briefly wondered what life was like for Daphne. However she quickly got back on track with what had happen.

"So... does that mean that you don't get punished for breaking training equipment? Cause last time it didn't go so well for me." She said and took note of the sword that was now sheathed, hanging from Daphne's side. The warrior part of her was acting up about the weapon that could potentially, but with non-existenant chances, be turned against her with the intent to kill.

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[Daphne Scotts]

A quick, but strong handshake told Daphne enough that this girl could hold her own. Maybe she was new to camp, but she wasn't new to the challenges demigod life could present itself. Besides, Atalanta was also a daughter of Ares and that spoke volumes to Daphne. "Lycaon is definitely one cute pup. I have a monkey.." Daphne looked towards the walls of the arena and noticed that Shogun was missing. She scrunched up face before she looked back at Atalanta. "Well... he's around here somewhere. His name is Shogun."

But Atalanta wanted to know if she was going to get in trouble for breaking the dummy as Daphne laughed and shook her head. "Nah. If that was the case, too many of us would get in trouble for breaking these things." She elbowed the dummy she was closest to. "I keep telling Chiron we need stronger dummies but he never listens. But I wouldn't really worry about it." And that's when a flash of fur darted out of the corner of Daphne's eyes and before she could react, a monkey grabbed the toy the dog was chewing on. "SHOGUN!" Daphne screamed as the monkey darted away with his loot.

[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 looked around the arena walls curious to see the pet monkey. Her focus sifted back to Daphne when the other laughed her worries away. Atalanta let out a relieved breath she didn't know she was holding. "Could always make 'em out of metal." She commented on the durability of the dummies. Her eyes widened as something furry flashed between them and suddenly Lycaon barked in rage and gave chase. Daphne's yell xleared any doubts she might have as to what exactly was the creature. Daphne's monkey had just stolen Lycaon's favorite squeaking toy and was now darting around the training grounds.

"Chase now, talk later?" She asked Daphne as she secured her nunchuks on her belt before darting after Shogun, the mischievous little thief. She knew that Lycaon would not stop chasing the monkey unless he got his toy back. But he would probably also bite the primate in a payback fashion and Atalanta would rather avoid that happening. So she weaved her way through the training pairs scattered about in the arena. She wondered how stupid she might look as she chased after a black pup and a money with a squeaky toy.

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[Daphne Scotts]

Daphne nodded her head to Atalanta's comment before she took off chasing after the monkey. She could almost hear the comedic chase song that they used in the cartoons as she chased after Shogun. Of course this monkey gave her nothing but problems since Marius left her with him. But there was no in moaning about it now, especially since Daphne was pretty sure that the dog didn't like anyone taking away its toy and there might've been consequences to pay.

So she dodged around dummies and other campers practicing as she followed the monkey. There was adrenaline pumping in Daphne's system, especially since she had to avoid swinging swords while unarmed. But finally, it looked like they were going to corner Shogun, but he scaled the wall to get out of their grasps. He sat there at the edge taunting them with the toy as he chattered. "Give it here, Shogun," Daphne said as she extended a hand to the monkey. "Do not make me come up there."

[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?

❞

So they ran after the monkey and the pup. Gods if anyone was filming this and added Benny Hill's signature tune in it later, it would be hilarious. But for now Atalanta was more focused avoiding swords and arrows from turning her into a sis-kebab. Eventually they managed to corner the little thief, but he simply climbed up the wall and made fun of them. Lycaon was barking like a maddog at the monkey who dangled the toy out of reach. Daphne was threatening the monkey and Atalanta... Well Atalanta was actually running towards the wall calling a heads up to Daphne. A wall that had some barely existing hand-grips for her to use.

In a show of running up the wall in three leaps and scaling up the rest of it. She grabbed the toy from the distracted monkey's grip and landed back down in a sommersault. Still in the crouching position she tried to catch up her breath with a large grin plastered onto her face. She gave the toy back to Lycaon and the pup was licking her excited to get his favorite chewtoy back. She ruffled the pups head and looked up at Daphne. "So I'm guessing he does that a lot?" She huffed as she proped her back against the wall she had climbed up only seconds ago. She was of course reffering to Shogun.

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[Daphne Scotts]

Daphne didn't want to fly up there and grab the toy for herself, but Shogun was almost leaving her with no choice especially with the dog barking around her feet. But she heard Atalanta calling and Daphne immediately knew what she was going to do. She scooped up the dog to keep him out of they way before the Ares girl scaled up the wall and grabbed the toy from a very distracted Shogun. But once Atalanta had the toy in hand and rolled back down, Daphne put the dog down who was so ecstatic to have his toy back.

She laughed a bit breathlessly as she put her hands on her hips. "He had as tendency to get in trouble," she said in between breaths. "I just haven't seen him steal a puppy's toy yet. But I'm glad we got it back pretty easily."

[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 huffed a little as she was finally calming her breathing pattern down again. She chuckled as Lycaon became very protective of his toy now as he came and promptly cuddled between her legs, keeping the toy hidden from sight, but stil chewing on it as the sound was barely muffled. "Well, I, for once, was happy for the distraction he provided. There's a first to everything." She agreed with Daphne and looked up to see Shogun's reaction in what had just happened. "So how come you have a monkey as a pet? It's really unusual even without the demigod factor in play." She was curious.

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[Daphne Scotts]

Shogun was shocked. He looked in his hands and down at the ground and back at his hands, unable to truly figure out where the toy went since Atalanta snatched it away so fast. He huffed a bit before he went over the other side of the wall to do who knows what. Daphne laughed lightly as she shook her head before turning back to Atalanta. "He's quite something, isn't he?" she asked before Atalanta asked about Shogun. Her heart stopped for a moment. It was an innocent question. There would be no way she would know the circumstances. She sighed as she moved her hair out of her face. "He's not mine originally. He belonged to my..." She couldn't bring herself to say ex, so she gulped down the words. "My best friend. He's a child of Hermes and I don't even know how he got Shogun. For all I know, he could've stolen him from a zoo."

[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 as Shogun left them with a rather indignant huff. She rufled the fur on Lycaon's head, nodding at Daphne's question and then telling the pup it was safe to unburry itself from her legs. However Lycaon ignored her, seeming perfectly fine with his 'hiding spot'.

She looked up again as Daphne told her about how she got Shogun. A child of Hermes being the previous owner suddenly explained the thieving attitude of the monkey. But she also thought Daphne had hesitated there for a second. But she shrugged the feeling off as she had been busy pushing Lycaon away a bit, the pup having others thoughts on the matter, so she could stand up again. "Hermes huh? That would explain why Shogun acted like a little thief." She voiced her thoughts and dusted herself off. "So how come you're stuck with him?" It was a curiosity question again. She just wanted to get to know people better so she could find a few friends and make a place for her here at Camp. Like Daphne, she was stuck with something she never seemed to ask for.

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[Daphne Scotts]

"So how come you're stuck with him?" Even though it was a very simple and innocent question, it still struck a nerve with Daphne. Memories of that conversation with Marius as he handed Shogun to her flooded her mind. She had to shake it off. That was in the past now and she was pretty sure that Marius was never coming back, despite the brief reappearance he made back at camp. "He..." she said as she took a deep breath trying to calm herself. "He had to go find himself or something... I'm not really sure what it was, but he said that Shogun didn't really like traveling far away from camp... so he asked me to take care of him and I agreed." She smirked a bit as she glanced to where the monkey ran off. "And look what kind of trouble has followed me."

[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 smilled at Daphne's complaint about how she had tried to do her friend a favor and ended up in a mess.
"Well I suppose he owes you a huge favor now. Hermes is supposed to be the protector of merchants. Trade him that favor when he comes back. From what I hear around here, Hermes' favors are rare and very useful thing to have." She said and got up, much to Lycaon's dismay as his hideout had, in his opinion, randomly decided to get up and leave him unprotected from that evil, toy-thieving monkey. He whined and pawed at her legs demandingly only for Atalanta to look down, chuckle and say no. Lycaon didn't seem to take it that well, but behaved nonetheless and just made sure to have an eye out for Shogun.

"So, um, would you like to spar with me? I'm fairly new to swords and I know for a fact I learn better against a real opponent and not some dummy." She asked Daphne, dusting herself off.

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