They Seem To Fit In (Jess)

Eleni made her way through the trees to reach the lake. As she walked by each tree, she ran her finger along the bark, taking in the rough feeling. It was a clear day for early October, and Eleni couldn't help but enjoy it. She decided to take an afternoon walk, soon finding herself at the lake.

Next to the lake was a rock on which soft moss grew. Lightly perching herself on top of the rock, she glanced around at her surroundings, adjusting the leather archer's glove on her hand, she set her bow on the ground leaning against the rock. The sun shone through the tall trees, shining off of her hair and warming her. She tugged her flannel down, adjusting it. Pulling her hair into a ponytail, she turned her attention to the actual lake. Sea creatures, either of this world or not, swam about in the clear water. Even though it was October, the idea of taking a fall swim made Eleni laugh out loud, a smile spreading across her face.

Hearing footsteps behind her, Eleni looked in the direction of the source. It was a boy, appearing to be around her age. When he asked for her name, she smiled brightly. "It seems you already know it," she curtly replied, still smiling. The river created a background noise for their "conversation," if you would even call it that.

She switched her ponytail from one shoulder to the other. Opening her mouth to speak again, she lifted her head to look at the much taller boy, made to seem even taller while Eleni was sitting. "What's your name?," she asked, deciding not to shut him down quite yet. It would be interesting to see how the interaction with this strange demigod would go.

Her eyes brightened when she noticed his attire. She was wearing flannel, just like she was. His appeared to be a little more rugged than hers, but it was still a similar ensemble. Eleni tucked the front of her white shirt into the waist or her shorts, glancing back at the lake once before turning her attention back to the boy.

Tilting her head back to laugh at his response, she replied quickly, "You know what else is hot, Owen? The forge. And I'm not really into that either." Smiling at him sweetly, she tucked a loose hair behind her ear. There was no sign of malice in her eyes, no hint that Eleni was being rude. It was a genuine, sweet smile, as if she were smiling at a kitten.

"Well good thing I'm a daughter of Zeus, then. It'd be really weird if I was striking people down with thunder and lightning as a child of Poseidon," she replied, laughing lightly. Eleni missed carefree times like this, when she could talk freely and mess around with a fellow camper.

Listening to him telling her to back off of his style made her laugh a little bit louder than she meant to. Her wardrobe wasn't extraordinary, and where usually people would criticize her wardrobe, he made her feel like she needed to embrace it. "Hey, flannel was always my thing. Haven't you heard the word from around camp? Eleni Seres, daughter of Zeus, rocks flannel shirts the best."

Eleni raised her eyebrows at him, taking in his reply. Damn, he's good, she thought. But she could see right through him. She saw straight through his act, however. It took a faker to know a faker. It wasn't always apparent to other people, but within the circle of people at camp who had deep issues and chose to put on a smile constantly, it was clear as day.

"Are you going to show me the forge or something?" she asked, turning her head to the side to add to the deep sarcasm evident in her voice. She laughed, and the sound was genuine. Eleni didn't feel the need to cover herself up around him, for some reason. Around pretty much everyone she had the constant need to keep up appearances. Keep up her wall. To never let them see her cry. But she had the feeling that if she were to have a mental breakdown here next to this lake, she wouldn't mind having Owen bear witness to it.

Pushing his shoulder lightly, she would not fall victim to that million dollar smile that so many Aphrodite boys sported nowadays. It just wasn't her thing, and she did not find herself swooning over it as a few other girls might. Continuing her earlier point, she dryly said, "Or maybe you would care to spar?" Raising her eyebrows again, she challenged the boy. Most people would decline her invitation, as they knew of her deadly accuracy with her bow. But maybe he was different.

Eleni tilted her head to look at him, slightly surprised by his polite decline of her invitation. People usually turned it down, but she thought he would be different. She thought for a moment about confronting him about that look behind his eyes. This was just in her personality. The honesty was somewhat a bit overwhelming to some people, especially when she was exceptionally observant of things.

"I'm not like every other girl at camp, that's why. It may seem like that. The whole high and mighty daughter of Zeus thing. But contrary to popular belief, I'm not like that." She smiled at him, slightly amused at his shock of her not swooning for him. "Why aren't you in the forge? I'm guessing you're probably a son of Hephaestus."

That look he had, as if he weren't really there, bothered her. She wanted to ask him, but she was afraid he would also ask her about her past, her troubles. And she didn't know if she could handle that.

Eleni considered the best way to phrase it. She didn't want to outright call him out on it, and at the same time she didn't want to cause any issues. She didn't want to anger him, despite the fact she felt she could handle it.

"Well, you don't appear to be the Owen you let everyone else see. I don't see the supposed 'pretty boy' anywhere. He's trying to be here, but I just can't see it," she admitted, holding his gaze for as long as possible. Eleni immediately regretted it, not wanting to get too caught up in anyone's business. But deep down, she felt this could help both him and her. In conversations such as these, both side usually admitted to some things, and it might help her release some of what she had been bottling inside.

There was of course the death of her mother to think about, and she wasn't sure how she was supposed to talk about that if he did question her about it. Few people knew about it at camp, but rumors spread among teenagers. A couple girls heard her having a flashback turning a training exercise involving moving targets. She had fallen to her knees and sobbed, inadvertently calling out for her mother like a child. The story made the rounds among the Aphrodite girls, but no one dared to include her name. Most campers were smart, and wanted to avoid getting struck down by either Zeus or the daughter of him herself.

She knew they were right. If anyone had included her name, they probably would have sparked a fury so intense, she would have accidentally hurt them. But Eleni was pretty sure everyone knew it was her, without having to say anything.

Eleni breathed in sharply at his confession. She couldn't believe it. Was he opening up to her? To Eleni's delight, it appeared he was. Not wanting to lose this opportunity, and feeling as if she was walking on thin ice, she Eleni treaded carefully. To take some of the focus off of Owen, she decided it was time to admit some things as well.

"Yeah, so did I..." she said in a quiet voice, unsure of whether or not he even heard her. Her hands shook at this, unable to decide if she was going to continue further. It was risky for her. She could hurt him on accident if she got too worked up, but she hoped she could hold herself together long enough to not freak out too much.

"It was my mother," Eleni admitted, looking up at him, his eyes were focused to the ground. She stared up, trying to keep her focus on the clouds in the afternoon sky. Small tears sprang from the corners of her eyes. With lightning fast speed, Eleni swatted them away.

Never let them see you cry.

Eleni's eyes shot up at him. He was genuinely surprised. She cleared her throat, hoping to ride herself of a potentially nasty voice before she spoke. "Yeah. Hellhounds. I didn't help her. I didn't do anything. I just left. It was all my fault," she said, her voice catching at the end of her sentence.

"It was all my fault," she whispered again, bringing her knees to her chest, hugging them as if they were a lifesaver. She couldn't help herself as several tears slipped past her guarded walls and onto her bare knees. Eleni breathed in deeply, shaking slightly before attempting to compose herself. She was duct taping her walls together, but the look in his eyes the shaking hands in his pockets were bringing them down.

She looked up at him, trying to smile, but failing miserably. "Sorry. It's been about two years. You'd figure I'd get over it and be able to talk about her. But it's just so difficult," she stated. Closing her eyes, she tried to go to a happy place. But all she could see behind those closed eyes were her mother's pale, cold face, and bright red eyes staring at her in the darkness.

"I was afraid you would say that," she replied. Her mother's death was still so fresh in her mind, as if it were yesterday. Her heart was beating fast, and Eleni was unsure if she would be able to handle it. The images were already invading her mind. Blood. A wild storm. A mass of fur. Blonde hair stained with blood.

"It was only one hellhound," she recalled. Taking in a deep breath, she continued. "I arrived too late. I wasn't fast enough. I held her while she died. I didn't even call an ambulance," she confessed. It was too much. The conversation was getting to her, and the details were flooding her mind. Eleni wasn't completely aware of it, but the sky was darkening over the lake as dark grey clouds began to form. Flashes of light appeared, and thunder roared across the camp. Eleni's hair was frizzing up, and the hair on her arms stood up on end. This was what happened. She accidentally triggered storms like this.

A very quiet whimpering noise escaped her throat. She pulled at her hair, trying to focus on not killing anyone in the vicinity, especially Owen. The wind began to pick up around them, and the creatures in the water scattered. Eleni was shaking as the images were flooding her mind, her eyes screwed shut, gripping at her legs.

When Owen said her name and touched her, the static electricity surrounding her fell. Her hair fell back to its original state, the thin hairs covering her arms settled down. The clouds became slightly thinner, but they were still present, lightning appearing less frequently.

His command grounded her, brought her back to reality. Yes, her mom was dead. Yes, she may have failed to protect her. But she couldn't change that. The visions would continue, unless she stopped them. She felt as if she were sinking moments ago, floating to the bottom of the ocean, but she was now brought up for air, and boy was it refreshing. Someone finally brought her back, it appeared.

Eleni still shook under his touch, a few tears escaping as she did breathed in and out. "It's never going to be okay, is it? I can never take back what I did before. I can train as hard as I can, I can try to bring as much honor to her as possible, I can kill thousands of monsters. But it's never going to be enough..." she trailed off, red eyes filled with malice once again entering her mind.

by this point the clouds had thinned out, the lake creatures had returned, and Eleni felt the charge in the air disappear. Her breathing had returned to normal, mostly. She was still shaking, and the light in her eyes from earlier was nowhere to be found. The wind was gone, and the air seemed to be still.

Offering up something to Owen, her voice was slightly scratchy. "I'll help you with that, if you ever need it. I'm always up for killing monsters. Especially ones that kill your family."

She stood from her rock, grabbing her quiver and bow from the ground, slinging them across her back. "I'd like to forget about a lot of things right now. Let's do it." She thought for a moment. "Are we talking inside camp or outside camp? I'm up for either at the moment." Eleni focused her eyes on him, on right now, on this moment. She did not want to think about two years ago. Especially with her birthday in a couple of weeks. Being in such a bad mood during such a celebratory time, according to her mother, was pretty much a sin. She would have knocked some sense into Eleni if she was present.

"Good idea," she remarked. Yeah, trying to avoid getting attacked after a wild emotional ride was probably the best option here. There was only so much pain a person could take in one day. And it just so happened that Eleni had reached her limit. Thinking about his question, she replied. "I'm not sure. We could just see what the Mess Hall has to offer for today."

Eleni wasn't even sure if she could be able to eat. Although she just had a mental breakdown, there was a lot of physical pain involved, at least for her. Taking a deep breath, she fixed her ponytail, trying to remove any signs that she just broke down minutes ago. No need to be the topic of anymore rumors.

This was an odd day for Eleni. A complete stranger, within minutes, broke her walls down with a sledgehammer. They were lying in pieces in front of her, and she didn't mind, daring to step over them. She had a friend now, it appeared. There was a certain connection between them she couldn't quite put her finger on. It wasn't romantic, it felt much better than that. Deeper, almost. No one had shared circumstances at this camp quite like they did.

(New topic or...?)

Eleni laughed at his apology. It was sure honest. "Yeah, you could say that again." It was truly a surprising turn of events. Both of their walls had come crumbling down around around each other. Eleni was honest, but not usually that honest. Especially not around complete strangers. But, for once, Eleni was happy with the outcome.

"Yeah, it has been a weird day. I swear I don't usually conjure up storms like that. I can't really help it, honestly. I'm not too good at controlling my powers yet. It's kind of an emotional thing. High points and low points tend to cause it," she admitted. Eleni was kind of ashamed, embarrassed really, that she couldn't control her powers. For two years it's been an issue, and she has yet to use her powers in battle.

"That's kind of embarrassing, actually. Forget I said that," she nervously laughed. "I swear to the gods, sometimes my mouth just keeps on going while my brain says stop. Like now, for instance," she narrowed her eyes, realizing she was rambling again.

When they reached the Mess Hall, she breathed a sigh of relief. She really was hungry. "Hamburgers? Awesome."