early morning--- private

eden scofield was in an unusually good mood as she made her early morning route around the kronos camp, a slight spring in her step. summer solstice had long been a favorite day of the year for her- along with her birthday and christmas- and she'd spent the night up on a nearby hill with a six pack of coca-cola all to herself and some packets of crisps to munch on. it'd been oddly relaxing, and unlike most nights when she returned to her tent, she wasn't resentful of that. the feeling remained when she woke up, and sure, she was questioning it, but it wasn't like she wanted it to go away. it made everything much easier on her part.
she'd picked up an apple from the food supplies a short time before, to have while she walked, but honestly? she'd have preferred a bowl of some sort of chocolate flavored cereal. just wasn't really an option around here. it made her sort of wish she was at camp half-blood, with the plates that you could ask for anything, the cups that re-filled automatically. right about now she'd be sitting in the hera cabin, probably, surrounded by other demigods. or she'd be at the mess hall, stuffing her face with delicious delights. either one would have been preferred to walking around a camp filled with evil doers straight out of a disney movie, villains and crooks and worse still.
still. an apple a day keeps the doctor away, right? she paused thoughtfully for a moment, taking another bite from the fleshy fruit, but shook her head and continued quickly. an apple would only be useful if it kept monsters away. since it doesn't, it's just a not-so-great-fruit i'm eating for breakfast because someone stole my muesli.
on that lovely thought, eden threw the end of the apple into the bushes and trees to her right, circling around and beginning to walk back to her tent. she tended to do the same walk every single morning- unless she was too lazy, or she had something she was tasked to be doing. just a quick circle of all the tents and campfires, and once she reached a set point she turned on her heel and made her way back to where she came. it'd become a habit a while back... a long while back, actually. the people and monsters milling around didn't question it, or her. in fact, they were all too busy eating or talking or whatever to really take any notice of the blonde girl walking through their midst. even if they weren't busy, they probably wouldn't have taken much care of her anyway. she'd been there so long, almost half her life, people really didn't question her strange quirks anymore.
she was casually twisting her ring on her left finger around in circles as she was walking past an orange tent when she heard the rustle- a tent flap opening, maybe. but lost as she was in her own mind, eden was shocked enough to turn around quickly, eyes startled. she was always on edge, really, but it was in times like these she really kicked herself. letting go of a breath she'd been holding, eden pasted a smile on her face and shook her head at her own stupidity. facing the other blonde, she tried to get rid of the embarrassed feeling.
"i'm so sorry! don't know what got into me. y'know, i usually have nerves of steel." she laughed lightly. "niki, right? i'm eden." she considered holding out her hand, but in a place like this it wasn't really advised to do so. instead she settled on keeping her warm smile in place. "early riser, huh?"

eden raised an eyebrow at the girls short yet not-so-great reply, nodding slightly at the confirmation she'd gotten her name right. she was good with names- good with remembering things in general, actually. she'd heard things about this girl in particular too. not so good things, mostly. and she wasn't blind. she'd seen the way crowds parted for her. even monsters stood back when niki walked past. yet, she wasn't intimidated by the blonde. she wasn't one of the people who would back to the side for her.
"thought so. i'm pretty good at remembering faces." her reply this time wasn't as warm as her previous words. the first few seconds of conversation were crucial for eden, and she'd already determined what she thought of this girl. clearly, she was too cocky for her own good.
if eden had been in a good mood before, it evaporated quickly with the words which next came out of niki's mouth. she knew her purpose in the kronos camp. she knew what she was supposed to do. the amount of pity she felt for the prisoners in that moment.... well, it was hard to describe accurately. but she also felt a feeling of new contempt towards the girl in front of her. lip curled slightly, she raised one plucked eyebrow.
"screaming prisoners, huh?" a light, disbelieving laugh escaped her lips. "so that's where you get your kicks. shoulda' guessed."

she brushed a strand of loose brunette hair behind her ear as her green eyes studied the girl in front of her, trying to come to a final decision on the girls personality. clearly, she was bloodthirsty. that much was clear from what eden could see in her expression, the cruel smile which was on her lips. because of that, she was almost tempted to walk away right that second. obviously, there was little to no good in this girl. and why waste precious minutes of life on someone like that?
well, unfortunately, niki provoked responses from her. instead of doing exactly what she should have done and turning on her heel, eden squared her shoulders and tilted her head curiously.
"it's not even noon and i've already found the psychopath. such a disappointing game today." probably not the best answer she could have said- she should have kept her mouth shut, actually- but eden had met other people like niki before. most of them in this very camp. scratch that, all of them. some were still alive, some had been slaves of their own desire for blood and pushed the wrong person too far. some of the stories she'd heard of niki herself told her that this girl wasn't someone to be messed with- if they were true, that was. one girl who eden liked and trusted (not that she didn't have her many downsides) had whispered about how this particular blonde had emerged from a recent fight she'd been thrown into covered in the life blood of the opponent. the opponent hadn't emerged alive. from that fact alone, she would have instantly disliked this girl. now she was standing right in front of her, she disliked her even more.
her stomach twisted horribly at what niki asked her to do, and eden's face visibly paled. in all of her time in this camp, she had only ever raised a weapon in self-defense. outright slaughter wasn't something she was able to deal with, and it wasn't something which she condoned. any other time, that thought would have forced a laugh from her lips. against slaughter and bloodshed in a place like this? some would call her insane for that.
shaking her head, she forced a reply. "i guess i can't make myself useful then. obviously, there's a clear difference between you and i."

clearly niki wasn't used to someone not agreeing automatically with her and rushing to do what she asked. she would have felt smug at that fact, if she wasn't being incredibly wary of the girl in front of her. not fearful. she wasn't someone who let herself be scared of people in this camp. they were under orders from kronos- and those orders didn't include killing supporters left right and center. she was marginally safe from the girls wrath. not completely, of course.
"my loyalties aren't to you, niki. my loyalties are to what kronos stands for, and to him. one blonde girl in a camp filled with others the same isn't someone i'm going to rush to please."
eden was saying all the wrong things, she was making all the wrong impressions. her voice, while even and strangely calm, meant nothing when the words which were coming out of her mouth were obviously making niki wary too. not just wary, but suspicious of her motives.
she saw it coming, but eden didn't make any move to get away from her advancing form. when long fingers wrapped around her throat, she made herself look niki in the eye, a faint, detached smile on her face. sure, her heart was beating against her chest hard enough for her to hear it in her ears, but eden was nothing if not calm in desperate situations. if she wasn't, she wouldn't be able to think clear. there was no pressure applied, which meant that her breathing wasn't compromised, but she was well aware that if she so chose to, niki could push all of the life out of her. would she have made a move to stop her? who knew.
her voice a mere whisper, eden answered the girls question. sure, she was being sarcastic- that much was obvious- but that didn't really matter. "i dislike blood. makes me queasy. i think it's left over from when i tripped in a playground as a child. some lasting effect by seeing my knee all scratched up or something."
a weaker woman than eden would have stepped backwards as soon as her throat was free from niki's grasp. instead, she stood a little straighter, her expression never changing as she watched an ice cold blue eye start to turn jetblack. it was jarring, odd- and she had her suspicions on what niki was doing. things she'd hard about this girl were clicking into place, but she didn't know if they were true or not. if she was allowing herself to fear the girl, she'd have feared her in that second- there were memories from her 26 years of life that she wouldn't have wanted anyone to see. incriminating memories which proved her true intentions.
eden shrugged, her expression going dark and guarded at niki's next question. her mind worked fast for a reply, and in half a beat she'd already started talking.
"you know how it is. i went shopping, got a nice starbucks. i could recommend a great nail parlor for you to get your nails done- they look a little ragged." she gestured at the girls hands, resting on her weapons. her own ring felt hot on her finger, and for the first time in a long time she wished she'd slipped it off long before so she could be holding a weapon too. smiling sickly sweet at niki, she shifted her weight casually. "i know i great hair salon too. just say the word, all those split ends will be no more." course, at the back of her mind was the nagging thought that niki could only be talking about one time- when she'd gone to camp half-blood. but she wasn't about to say she'd been to the ultimate enemies camp and made a deal with them, was she? her best course of action would be to act like she'd done nothing. absolutely nothing except some shopping and some girl time.

eden was more than a little taken aback, which showed on her mildly surprised face. this girl was clearly suffering some multiple personality disorder or something. how else could her sudden change have come around?
well, okay, there was always the option of niki playing her. one which was definitely possible. one, eden wouldn't put it past her, and two, it just seemed too... suspicious. she wasn't about to let her guard down, that was for sure. it didn't matter how good a turn her personality had taken, she didn't like the blonde, and that wasn't about to change anytime soon.
pulling her hair over one shoulder, eden pasted a bright smile on her face. hopefully, she looked the picture of someone who'd just "made a friend" or whatever.
"i know, right? no one here knows proper maintenance." like she of all people did. eden was pretty far from the girly girl type. "and surprisingly, you're the first to take me up on my offer." also, the only one, considering the offer was a big fat lie.
she tensed instinctively at niki's touch, but managed to relax a tiny bit when she realized all she was doing was linking arms. which was definitely freaky as hell considering that a moment before she'd had her fingers around her throat, but better than that gesture. glancing around at the demigods and monsters which parted for niki- and her, being propelled along by her- eden felt more like she was being sent to be executed rather than a friendly tug along by a "friend".
she noticed the way niki angled her head away from her, and put it down at the back of her mind as something suspicious. although, everything about this girl was suspicious. if she wanted to note it all, she'd have been there all day. after a few awkward moments, eden spoke up in a casual tone.
"if you really want to know something, all you have to do is ask- do i look like someone with secrets to hide?"

well, that explained it. eden had been more than a little curious about how she'd realized there was something in her past to hide- now she knew. mnemosyne. admittedly, she was more versed in the gods than the titans, but that didn't mean she didn't have enough knowledge of them to know who niki's mother was. she'd be pretty dumb if she didn't, considering her own father.
nodding her understanding, she smiled softly to herself, tilting her head away so niki couldn't see it. riddled with half-truths and secrets, huh? so she had her suspicions. that was something eden would have to watch out for- one kronos supporter suspecting her was one too many. one meant there was always the chance she'd tell her thoughts to someone else. before she knew it, eden might end up in an undesirable situation where it's her who was behind bars and awaiting execution for being a traitor.
eden was no fool, so while niki might have made a casual comment out of her next question- she wasn't about to let her guard go down now that it was up. she'd have to be very, very careful around this particular girl. and how best to do that then become friends?
"you're right. everyone has secrets, some more than others. you wanna know mine?" she lowered her voice to an almost whisper, her tone good-natured as she made a joke out of it. "i stole some lip gloss from the store last time i was out of camp."
eden didn't know many people with cars here, so she was sort of in awe as niki led her towards where her own one was. it was sort of asking for trouble if you left a car out in plain sight. obviously, she was smarter than eden had originally thought, because her car was definitely well hidden.
pulling brunette hair over her shoulder, eden nodded once more and thought about some places she'd seen on her last visit to the city- nail parlors, hair salons. there were so many, she wasn't sure where was good and where wasn't, so she settled on ones she remembered seeing on her way to starbucks and started to map out the route in her head.
"no problem. i have a great memory- you can be sure i'll get us where we need to be." she directed a sweet smile niki's way, hoping she seemed compliant.