i’ll be holding onto you for dear life [private]

who cares if we lose again

Asher had no idea why he was even attempting to swim In this weather, seeing as It was so cold he thought his manly parts were about to drop off. More than anything, he was doing this for a dare from one of his friends although he was alone currently. He was just going to go swimming and make sure there was enough evidence that he had indeed been taking a dip before barging into cabin six and proving himself. He was a bit stupid like that; in the sense that he had to make sure people knew that he could do anything. He was stubborn, and Ash was persistant.

Yet, he was starting to have second thoughts when he actually got nearer to the waters edge. He had pulled off his camp shirt and held it in his hands, just left in swimming trunks, and could therefore feels the icy water just about meet his toes. The seventeen year old wondered if he could just jump in the shower and claim that he had taken a swim. Then again, he woulen't be doing himself justice. While contemplating all of this, he realised how stupid he must look by just standing and looking at the water.

who cares if we lose again

Maybe would help if he tried to count to three In his head, but he doubted so. Whether it was his mind playing tricks on him or real, the son of Hephaestus could've sworn that his toes were going blue. He was very close to just pulling the warm fabric of his shirt back of and abandoning this attempt to prove how much of a man he was. Asher's friends probably wouldn't remember any of It anyway, so what did it matter? No, It certainly mattered to Ash. If he couldn't even go into water, how could he manage something more daring like fighting a hellhound or something?

The seventeen year old felt his heart pound against his ribcage when he heard a girl speak from nearby, having obviously not looked around enough to see anyone else along the shoreline. He turned to face this stranger, finding a pretty girl standing there that wasn't someone he knew. Strange, considering he had been year many years. Then again, there were many teenagers that also went to camp and he wasn't that popular as to be acquainted with all of them. "I'm sure I can handle a little bit of water." he chuckled, acting like the low tempreture meant nothing to him. When he turned back to the waves though, It was obvious that he didn't want to go in, or made any attempt to. It didn't even occur to him that he was half-naked and In the presence of a female. That stuff never really....occurred to him until after the embarressment. "Unless you want to go first and see if its safe?"

who cares if we lose again

Asher nodded, his eyebrows rising beneath his tangled heap of dirty blonde hair. There weren’t that many children of the underworld around, and this girl didn’t really seem like the type to be one. Nothing against her or anything, but she didn’t seem feisty and dangerous enough. She looked frail; but, then again, Ash wasn’t the best at reading people and he shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. “That’s a crap excuse for being scared.” he snorted, before pausing to go over what she had just said. “I mean the Hades bit, not the swimming bit, of course.” He waved a hand in the air in front of him as he went on, trying to do anything but wade deeper in the water. “It was a dare.” He shrugged, looking away from the pretty auburn girl and back at the water, his actions showing that there wasn’t anything else to say.

Before he knew it, the girl besides him at pulled of her boots and started to wade into the water. Oh heck no! She was not braver than him! Dropping his shirt on the dry parts of the soft sand behind him, Ash started to match the distance she had met. He thought he felt his toes, quite frankly, dropping off. Dude, he was so crazy sometimes it was ridiculous. “Oh my gods, dude. This is so fricking cold!” He exclaimed, wanting to jump back and get dry or something. Instead, being who he was, he just let his shoulder lift and down again and ploughed even deeper into the waves instil the ice cold water was around his knees and the bottom of his trucks were starting to dampen. “I win!” Asher beamed fist-pumping and not expecting to girl to continue.

who cares if we lose again

The grin of triumph was immediately replaced with one of amusement and frustration when the girl decided to challenge him further. Although it was cold – so much so that he felt the fairs on his torso standing on age and his jaw starting to chatter – he thought that he would be able to get even deeper in the waves. Further than the daughter of Hades, anyway. Who the heck was she in the first place? He didn’t ask, seeing as she was at least entertaining him. Ash was used to having people around him anyway, so it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. He watched her more forward until she the water stayed around her waist, not wanting to even go that further in him. It was cold enough just around his feet; he didn’t want his butt to get numb as well. That wouldn’t be very pleasant.

Blue eyes lighting up at the possibility of pounding the girl down with his competitiveness, he forced himself to take another step forward so the ice-cold waves were around his knee caps. “Watch and learn, loser.” He sneered playfully, about to advance even deeper in when he was the massive way behind the girl. He started to laugh before remembering that she couldn’t swim, and that tower of water didn’t look like something you would be able to walk away from easily. Hades and the god of the sea weren’t very tight, were they? Asher was frozen at first, not being able to produce enough body heat to fix his muscles into movement. Thankfully, he watched the girl manage to get back to her feet. Just as he was about to awkwardly say how lucky she was, she was engulfed again by the waves, and it seemed like she couldn’t escape alone this time.

“Oh Christ!” He cussed, leading onto more colourful words as the seventeen year old boy pushed himself into action. He practically dived into a swim, the coldness of the water wanting to lock his body still even if he fought against it. He was meant to be surrounded by forges and fire, not freaking ice-cold water. And since when did he have to be the guy that saved the damsel in distress!? He swam forward nonetheless, struggling to fight against the powerful currents that were crashing against them from everyone direction. He just about managed to grab the girl’s shirt and pull her towards him before he himself was sucked beneath the waves.

who cares if we lose again

With the Hades girl clinging tightly around his torso, Ash struggled to find an escape back into dry land but he was pretty much disorientated by the fact that he could barely see or had no sense of direction at all. He didn't even know which way was up or down. Above the waves it was absolute carnage, and he knew that soon the underwater currents would start throwing them both around like puppets on a string If they hesitated any longer. They would be lucky if they didn't drown first because neither way was looking very pleasant. On the contrary, Ash struggled to decide which would be a more horrific death.

Then the ground started to shake, and Asher felt solid ground raise from beneath his bare feet. He was really quite shocked and alarmed, but realised that the girl must have done or triggered something for the 'ship' to emerge. He sucked in a large gulp of air when his head finally was about the waves, his hair sticking to his head and in all direction messily. The two Demigods continued to clutch eachother as they kneeled on the deck of the ship, Ash's broad shoulders jerking violently as he shivered. At first he didn't know what the girl meant when she apoligised to him, seeing as it was his fault for being In the water in the first place, and his blue eyes widened again when she slumped in his arms.

Camp had taught him many things over the four years he had been her. Luckily, he had been Instructed how to save someone in means of first aid and such. Ash assumed that the girl still had water In her lungs, which was very dangerous as she could still die, and therefore pulled her back enough so he could see if she was breathing. Although, after a pathetic attwkpt to finjf a pulse or her breath, he gave up; her body was in too much a state of hypothermia to locate an pulse easily. He quickly dropped her so she was lying on the deck. He could've done It a little more gently, but he was in a rush and panic. He pumped down five times on her chest aggressively, not even knowing if she was alive or not before opening her mouth. Not letting himself think it over, he leaned down to lock his lips against hers and blew an almighty gust of wind into her lungs.

who cares if we lose again

Feeling smaller hands pushing his head away, Ash backed up a little so that his head was just about hovering above the girls. Although he guessed it could’ve been perceived as a romantic kind of thing, the only real thing that was going through his mind right now was the fact that this girl and he had only just escaped death. Though he stayed where he was, he could feel the rain plummeting like pellets against his bare back and felt uncomfortable. He panted for breath, one hand on the wooden deck next to the girl’s auburn hair and the other by her shoulder. A drip of water spattered from Asher’s mop of blonde hair and below Sophia’s greyish blue eyes. His pupils traced it, not really knowing what he was mean tot say or do.

Then, after a minute of staying locked in place, he allowed a relived and awkward laugh to escape his lips. He leaned back so he wasn’t touching the girl any longer, his chest still rising and falling quickly as he tried to get his breath back. “Whoa, that was…st-stupid.” He croaked, feeling sick but trying to push it away. He ran a hand over his tangled hair, pushing it off his face and spitting some water out of his mouth. “Holy c-crap. You weren’t joking when you said that Poseidon hated you.” His teeth were still chattering aggressively, rubbing his large hands against his biceps in an attempt to warm up his frozen muscles. He wouldn’t be surprised if the both of them ended up getting really ill or something. “Where the hell did you get this floating pile of c-crap, anyway?” He asked, looking around. “And how the h-heck are we going to get b-back?”

who cares if we lose again

Running and getting his hand stuck in his entangled blonde hair, Asher blew loudly out of his mouth and wasn’t surprised to find fog emerging before his eyes due to the low heat. He nodded along with what the Hades girl was saying, only half concentrating as he struggled to pry his fingers free from his mess of hair. “Uh, maybe because your dad did something to piss his brother off?” he suggested, choosing his words carefully so he didn’t anger the Greek god of the underworld. He didn’t fancy being hurled back into that ice cold water again. Ash listened to the rest of what the girl had to say, his blue eyes widening a little. It was both awesome and a little weird that the girl had a slave. It was awesome in the fact that it meant that this boat was technically hers, or something (Asher wasn’t really listening so he didn’t know), but it was weird because…it just was. He couldn’t word himself very well right now, but it was pretty unusual.

Watching the girl as she stood to her feet, trying to look through the rain that was pounding down against his face, Asher took her hand after a moment to help himself to his feet. She was colder, colder than him, and he couldn’t help but notice how softer and smaller her hands were in comparison to his. He let go as soon as he was up on the balls of his feet, not wanting it to be awkward. “Oh, swimming in the Summer is too boring.” he grinned, rolling his eyes. He was being much too happy considering he was freezing his butt off. He was a little nervous about the shadow travelling, considering he had never done it before, and didn’t know how to easily approach the girl and embrace her. He just put the anxiousness aside and pulled the daughter of Hades against his chest, in a tight hug. He probably could’ve done it a little gentler, but whatever, He just wanted to get off this damn boat. “Let’s go.”

who cares if we lose again

Asher's could never be considered as a fearful boy; not with his physically boisterous appearance and slightly arrogant perainality, but he knew he would dislike the sensation of shadow travelling. He was a son of Hephaestus; he wasn't meant for this whole freaky talent crap. The only things he was good at was fighting and building stuff. That was it. Therefore, because he was uncomfortable, he clenched his eyes shut and felt the atmosphere around them change slightly yet didn't hold the ability to peek through his eyelids. He was thankful that the girl had plucked up enough power and energy to push them Into this travelling state off the boat and would be sure to show his appreciation later on if possible. He didn't even know the girl's name though, so he was unsure how he was meanr to do that.

Letting the Hades girl detatch herself from within the seventeen year old's grip, Ash finally opened his eyes and was glad to be met by the family place of the armory forge. Many it his siblings were around and gave him funny looks as he was wearing just a pair of swimming trucks and dripping wet from head to toe. He would fill them in later; now he was more preoccupied with making sure the girl wasn't going to drop dead on him. Ash wanted to reach out and grab her arm to steady her, but she seemed able stand with the table for now. "You look like you are gonna hurl." He grimaced. Asher's was good at making a girl feel beautiful. "Do you need carrying?" He offered, knowing it was the least he could do.