They Seem To Fit In (Jess)

Eleni ignored his comment about her powers. It was hard for her to admit other people had issues too. For her, she had a sort of reputation to maintain. She was the daughter of Zeus, training for her second year. She couldn't even control the smallest bit of weather on purpose. It was one of her greatest insecurities.

Eleni tossed a piece of her food into the flames, silently praying as she did to her father. She hoped for some sort of guidance, maybe a teacher of sorts. Anything, she was desperate at this point. Walking with Owen to the table, she listened to him speak. "That seems pretty handy. If you could utilize it at the right moments, it would be useful."

Curious, she looked up at Owen from the table. He was incredibly tall, and Eleni was fairly short, so looking up at him took a considerable amount of effort. "How old are you anyway? You're pretty tall," she observed.

Eleni listened to him, and figured he was probably right. She didn't want to continue on the whole abilities thing. It was making her uneasy. To take her mind off of it, she took a deep breath and glanced around the Mess Hall. It was virtually empty, save for a few daughters of Aphrodite sitting in the corner of the space. They would occasionally look up at Eleni and Owen, giggling as they did. She shook her head, ignoring them, turning her attention back to Owen.

Hearing he was only 15 surprised her. "Yeah, I'm almost 16 too. And "shortie" wouldn't be the worst thing I've been called regarding my height," she commented, laughing lightly as she did.

Owen spoke once again, and Eleni had to agree with him. "Yeah, I hope you're done growing as well. It's not as fun being short as everyone seems to think. Especially when you're supposed to be 'terrifying'," she said, using air quotes to get her point across. Eleni was always about impressions and expectations. Her now two year old title as daughter of one of the big three rattled her to the core, as it came as quite a surprise to her, and she would do almost anything to prove to her mother that she was doing good.

Taking a bite of her hamburger and sipping cherry pepsi, Eleni tried to move her mind off of the matter.

Eleni smiled, trying to hide her small blush. No one had ever talked about her like that before. Like there were people who were jealous of her. Especially girls that were daughters of Aphrodite.

Listening to the deep sarcasm in his voice, she laughed. "Oh, did you not remember 20 minutes ago? Big freaky storm? Not terrifying enough?" A smirk was plastered across her face as she continued to eat. The wind swept through the building, and the sun was nearing the horizon. Finishing off her meal, Eleni stood up, and as she did, she felt a petite body slam into her.

"Oops!," a high voice exclaimed. A smile was plastered against the red-head's face, which Eleni saw through. The girl waved at Owen, smiling a more genuine smile before turning to leave. This would have been fine, except for the fact that a coke was now dripping from Eleni's white shirt, covered in brown liquid. She furrowed her eyebrows, glaring at the girl. She continued on her way to the trashcan, not bothering to get into a fight at the moment, not with a friend present.

Eleni turned around in time to witness Owen grabbing the girl's wrist. She ran across the Mess Hall to reach them. She pushed the Aphrodite girl back, standing between her and Owen. "You should go," she breathed, her eyes almost pleading to the girl. With a huff, her and her friends promptly exited the Mess Hall, the girl drawing her dagger as she walked through the door. Almost as if it were a reminder.

She turned to Owen, gesturing toward their table again. She sat next to him, eyeing him carefully. At least she knew that Owen was going to stand up for her, which was definitely a plus for her. "Are you okay?," she asked, her eyes sweeping across him as she did.

Even though she liked the way he stood up for her, she would prefer for this to not be a regular occurrence. Lightly placing a hand on his shoulder, she tried to read him, and for her, it was nearly impossible to tell what he was thinking. Eleni wasn't even sure if she wanted to know.

Eleni smiled at him cautiously, and then hearing him joke, she lightened up. Her face brightened up, reflecting the rapidly setting sun. "Yeah, at least you didn't fry anything. I've done my fair share of that," she laughed.

Despite his, and his statement declaring his state, she was still uneasy. She wasn't scared of him or anything, quite the opposite, really. She was worried, and she saw a different look in his eyes than what was there before. The brown eyes were holding a look that she was afraid to see in anyone. Something that resembled doubt, though Eleni wasn't sure.

She watched him as he walked away, thinking of something to say to him, but in a way that was appropriate, in a way that wouldn't hurt him. This was how they became friends, through her honesty, through her observing manner. A lot of people tended to not be fans of this about the daughter of Zeus, finding it intrusive. It was about as close to reading someone's thoughts as she could get.

Upon his return, Eleni looked up at him with curious, almost begging eyes. "Owen, can you tell me what's bothering you?," she questioned, silently begging he would be open with her. Eleni knew that honesty was something not a lot of people possessed, and this appeared to be incidentally testing him.

Eleni frowned, her eyebrows furrowing. She didn't exactly understand what he meant by that, but she got the feeling it was a deeper inner struggle than what she was imagining, and she couldn't fix him now. Letting it go, trying to spare Owen of any further emotional trauma, or uncomfortableness. That was the last thing she wanted to do at the moment, pushing a specific topic on someone who didn't wish to discuss it.

She acknowledged he was having a bad day. So was she. Having a mental breakdown was not something she ever enjoyed, or the aftermath. But, surprisingly, the aftermath today was fairly okay. She made a friend, someone who had the potential to be her best friend. He calmed her down, grounding her. It was a first for her, getting close to someone like that.

"Well, maybe we could do something fun around camp? To take your mind off of today's events. I'll need to change, of course," she commented, gesturing to her now-brown shirt.

She wasn't as upset as she might have been if that would have happened when she was alone. With Owen stepping in, that pretty much took her fear of the girls away. Eleni wasn't even sure what sort of problem they had with her. If it was some sort of personal vendetta, if they liked Owen, or what.

Eleni smiled at his apology. "It wasn't your fault," she said. "Honestly, the vast majority of the Aphrodite children are really nice. I don't know what got their panties in a bunch." She pondered this. One of her closest friends was a daughter of Aphrodite. The girl was lovely, and even did Eleni's eyebrows occasionally, while Eleni usually complained about it.

Upon reaching the door of her cabin, Eleni laughed at Owen rushing her. The boy thought he was so clever. She walked in without speaking a word, running for her bunk. She quickly swapped out her white shirt for an identical one, changing in the middle of the empty cabin.

When she reached the door, Eleni had an idea that she thought was pretty hilarious. She was going to counteract his minor "threat". She opened the door, closing it behind her. She grinned sweetly up at Owen, but it wasn't sweet for long. It turned into a grin before she began sprinting in the direction of the beach. "Don't take too long catching up with me!," she yelled over her shoulder, adding, "Or I'll ditch you!"

Eleni sprinted towards the sand, breathing in and out with precision. Years of track, cross country, and training transformed her into a swift runner. She heard Owen calling out to her, but she ignored him, continuing on her way. There was no way she was slowing down. With the beach at her feet, Eleni slowed her pace, thinking she won their little impromptu race. But there were footsteps directly behind her, declaring she had probably not beat him, which was a small disappointment.

When he grabbed her shoulder, Eleni scowled. She ran track in high school! She was a state champion! Her old coach would have yelled at her for allowing herself to be beaten, but Eleni came to the realization that her old world has no connection anymore to her new world. She shook the slightly disconcerting thought from her head, focusing instead on the boy looking down at her, trying to catch his breath.

"I still think I won," she insisted. Owen spoke again, proclaiming them as lame. She stuck her fist out for a fist bump, looking at him with a grin. "Yeah, we are," she agreed.

She still didn't ignore the slight damage to her ego for him catching her.

Eleni grinned, removing the ponytail from her hair. "Sure you would have," she muttered under her breath, holding a sarcastic tone.

"Well, to be honest, I'm not really sure. I just bolted from the cabin, not entirely focused on the destination," Eleni admitted, glancing at the sky before returning her attention to Owen. She added, "Is the beach not okay?," worry clear in her voice,but upon seeing him sit down on the sand, those worries were erased by delight.

Eleni gladly sat next to him, taking in the breeze and the feeling of mist sweeping across her cheeks. "It's quite relaxing, isn't it?," she pondered aloud, not bothered by accidentally speaking her mind. Her eyelids fluttered shut as she sat back against the warm, sun-heated sand. The waves against the shore provided beautiful background noise. Enjoying herself so much, she laid back fully against the sand, taking in the few clouds in the bright sky.

Looking at Owen, she fully evaluated today's events in her mind. The only thing that mattered to her was her new friend, someone she felt like she could count on. "I'm happy I met you today, Owen," she quietly admits, not quite sure if he can hear her over the waves and the light sea breeze.

Eleni smiled, pleased with his confirmation. It was quite perfect, despite her split-second decision. She supposed her subconscious just knew what it was doing, apparently. Chalking it up to her somehow knowing it would be perfect was enough explanation for Eleni.

She blushed at his admittance that he was glad he met her as well. Sometimes, that was all Eleni wanted in life. To be wanted. To somehow be needed by someone, even if she wasn't sure he needed anyone. He appeared from the exterior to be quite the independent individual, and she wasn't expecting to be needed. At least not yet. It was a sort of new thing for her, and she had not much experience concerning the matter.

Suddenly sitting up, Eleni's somewhat childish demeanor gave her an idea. Thinking of things people normally did at the beach, she definitely crossed sandcastles off of the list. Playfully, she removed her flannel shirt, and kicked off her shoes and socks. She took one last look at Owen before sprinting towards the water, diving in head-first.

Eleni came up for air, pushing her hair back away from her face. Her wet skin shone in the late afternoon, and the sky was beginning to darken. Treading water, she laughed at Owen. "Sorry, Owen, I'm not really into that kind of thing. But it's okay if you are," she winked, and then began laughing. Sometimes she thought she was so clever..

When he splashed her with water, she shrieked. Eleni brought her hands up from the water, splashing him just as hard. She swam back under the water, touching the bottom. Despite the fact that she felt utterly out of her element, quite literally, she was having too much fun. Children of the Big Three didn't feel right in the spaces of the other two gods. She had never been to the Underworld, but she figured it would be just as bad. There was a slight tug on her legs as she was underwater.

Deciding it was a bad idea to stay beneath the waves any longer, she swam behind Owen, breaching the water behind him and climbing onto his back, twisting her fingers into his hair for grip. "You might need that leash," she said into his ear.