Lost in the Forest {Private with Alec}

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

Julie was tempted to take back what she'd said and really make the twins think that the tree was all there was. But no, that would be mine. They'd been nice to her--at least, Ariadne had. So, she'd be nice to them.

The nymph smiled at the mention of a ball of yarn. "I don't think your mom would leave you in the middle of the night just so the two of you could go see a tree without her. Though, if you want to visit a tree, you're always welcome to come see mine. It's quite nice, if a bit shy around new people."

The twins looked like they were ready to walk the final distance down to the camp. So, though she didn't want to, Julie would leave them here and return to the forest. The nymph threw back her head and howled again, just to see if she could still scare Ariadne one last time. Then, she grinned at the twins. "Well, I guess this is it for me. You can guys can find your way from here. Come visit me some time, yeah? The forest can get lonely sometimes."

"The tree is shy?" Lysander said confused. The girl was sensible and sane enough to get them here, but insane enough to believe that trees were animate or had feelings. He couldn't wrap his head around the situation. It seemed almost oxymoronic, paradoxical. It actually irritated him to think about.

Ariadne bounced a bit, hearing the howl. She looked at Julie, taking a deep breath. That howl had shocked her more so than scared her. Her heart fell back to its normal rate after a couple of moments.

"Well, that was cruel... and a bit obnoxious." She said the last part in a quiet voice.

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

Julie understood why she'd never been tempted to leave the Forest and live elsewhere: the humans here were just too fun to live without. She sighed, shaking her head slightly at Lysander. "Yes, my tree is shy. Come by some time and you'll see. It is really nice though! It has to be, doesn't it, to deal with me 24/7?" The nymph didn't understand why Lysander didn't get these simple concepts that made perfect sense to her. Did he just not have much experience with trees? Maybe Los Angeles didn't have many.

When Ariadne called her cruel and obnoxious, Julie's face fell. "Geeze, sorry. Didn't know humans couldn't take a joke." She looked away from the twins, biting her bottom lip. She didn't want the other girl to see it, but Ariadne had actually hurt her feelings.

"I guess I will have to visit," Lysander said slowly, confused. He had no plan to, though. At that moment, he found the idea to be completely ridiculous. A tree with feelings. He was certain all that would happen is he'd see a normal tree. Maybe she had found a way to live in it, like a treehouse or something, but he was pretty certain it was your normal, garden-variety tree. But he didn't know that his knowledge of trees would change within the next hour.

Ariadne was an observant girl by nature. She found that it helped her with art even though her brother was a much better artist than she was. But the point was, she noticed Julie's change in reaction and immediately felt the need to fix it.

"Maybe cruel wasn't the right word," she corrected. "But it certainly was unexpected. And being obnoxious isn't necessarily a bad thing." The final sentence she knew to be true was due to Lysander. He could be quite obnoxious, but it certainly made life more interesting.

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

Lysander said he'd visit her tree, but he didn't sound too sincere about it. Oh well, it was his loss. She should really give her tree a name. Referring to her home as an "it" wasn't very polite. But first she needed to figure what gender her tree was. Well it was sensitive to her moods, like a girl would be, but then it was sometimes tough and broody like a boy. So maybe she should give it a unisex name like Sam or Alex or Micah. Oooh, she liked Micah. Maybe she'd go with that for now. But she'd have to see what the tree thought of the name first...

Oh, right! She was still with the humans, and Ariadne was saying something. Julie brought her focus back onto the current situation in time to hear Ariadne's sort of apology. She wasn't sure how to respond. She'd always heard that being obnoxious, and that it made people dislike you. Was she wrong about that? Well, it didn't matter. Ariadne had tried to make things better. Julie smiled at the girl. "I'll try to be a little less unexpected around you from now on, then. Don't want to scare you to death."

"Yeah, thanks," Ariadne chuckled. She'd heard that people could actually be scared to death. Her opinion of that was it was a lame way to die. She certainly wouldn't want to die that way especially at her age when she hadn't done much with her life. She had plans for her future. She'd hate for them to dissipate due to fright.

"We should get going, Ariadne," Lysander suggested. "You're liable to pass out at any moment. You're exhausted." He was trying to make it seem as if it were only her. He was the protective older brother. He didn't want to seem weak. But he predicted his sister would call him out on it and he was corrected.

"Don't act like you're not exhausted, too." Lysander chucked at the correctness of his prediction.

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

Julie frowned again when Lysander suggested that the twins should leave, but that moment was brief, soon replaced by a smile. "If yo two do pass out, I can always drag you there," she suggested. "You'd get there eventually."

Since the two were leaving, the nymph felt the need to give them some final words of advice or encouragement, but wasn't sure what to say. So, she settled for quickly hugging Ariadne, letting go before the other girl could protest. "Good luck you two!" she exclaimed. "Watch out for Cabin 5. They can be pretty mean sometimes, and they don't really seem to like the forest."

Ariadne laughed at the hug, but before she could return it, Julie had released. Ahh, well. Hopefully there would be another time. Ariadne was extremmely grateful for the help Julie provided. And the similarities between Julie's and the twins' mother's names made Ariadne ease up on her mother. In fact, she hoped to see her mother again unlike a few hours earlier when she'd given up on her.

"Thank you for your help," Ariadne said. Her brother repeated the thanks. He wasn't as bad as he appeared to be. He was extremely polite, but he was overly protective of Ariadne, especially in a situation like this, and highly egotistical.

"Cabin?" Lysander said curiously, looking back at the tree on the hill. He was anxious now to see what was behind it. Why would there be cabins? And they were numbered which meant they were designated for something, maybe like hotel rooms or something. Where had their mother sent them?

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

Julie smiled wide as the humans thanked her. "You're welcome," she said. "I've been lost in the forest before. Not fun." The nymph remembered that incident. She'd wandered the woods for almost an hour before a fellow dryad had passed by and kindly showed her how to get back to her tree. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like for Lysander and Ariadne to be lost in the middle of the night. Just the thought was enough to make her shiver with fear.

When Lysander questioned her use of the word "cabin," Julie raised an eyebrow. "Yes, cabin. Don't camps usually have those? Or do people live in something cooler? Ooh, you should try living in a tree! It's really fun! I should suggest that to Mr. D." The nymph was so excited about the prospect of sharing the forest with the Camp that the two humans were, for a moment, forgotten.

"Camp?" Ariadne said. She and Lysander had been sent to several types of camps as children. Lysander had gone to art camp for two years. They'd both attended music camp one summer and Ariadne had gone by herself two other years. But it had only lasted five weeks and their mother had escorted them there. What was different about this one that she had let them travel alone? They were only fourteen, turning fifteen in a few months. But Ariadne was relieved and excited to hear they were going to a camp and not to abandonment.

Lysander glanced at his sister, even more excited to get there. They hadn't been to camp in four years. This could be fun. Well, he was expecting it to be fun.

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

"Your mom really didn't tell you anything, did she?" Julie asked. "Past that hill is Camp Half-Blood, for--oops, I should stop talking now. Don't want to ruin the surprise." Julie's skin turned a vivid shade of green from embarrassment. She couldn't believe that she'd almost told the humans that they were demigods. That would take all the fun out of their arrival.

Seeing that the two were hesitating, she reached out her arms and gave each of them a light push on the back. "Get going, you two! If you stand here any longer you'll start growing roots and turn into trees. I don't think that'd be so bad though." She looked at Ariadne. "You'd be a really pretty tree."

"Half-blood?" Lysander mouthed to Ariadne. She shrugged in response. What did that mean? How could you be a half-blood? Unless they meant ethnically, but then most people would be going to this camp if not everyone. This was so confusing. It wasn't like they were animals. Like a liger or something.

Lysander and Ariadne stumbled forward a bit before looking back at Julie. The younger sister smiled, hearing Julie say she'd make a pretty tree.

"What kind of tree would I be, do you think?" she asked curiously.

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

Julie knew that she was confusing the siblings more and more with every word she said, but the nymph was determined not to give away anything more. If she did, the humans wouldn't have anything to look forward to once they got to Camp. She couldn't do that to them.

The dryad smiled and clapped her hands excitedly when Ariadne asked what kind of tree she'd be. "Ummm...I don't know. Maybe a fir tree like Micah." She liked Micah; it was a good name for her tree. "They're pretty. Or...ooh, ooh! You'd be a cherry blossom tree! Those are really pretty. They don't grow around her though...too bad."

"I don't think I've seen a fir tree... well, maybe in that forest, but I wouldn't be able to identify it," Ariadne said, quite interested at the thought. She'd have to look it up later. "But cherry blossoms, I've seen. They're gorgeous." She smiled. Ariadne almost didn't want to leave Julie. She would regret doing so later when she isolated herself in camp.

Lysander was stuck on the idea of Julie naming her tree Micah. But he didn't comment. He knew he'd already irritated the girl. He wouldn't do so anymore. At least, not today.

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

Ariadne seemed to be happy with Julie's placement of her as a cherry blossom tree. The nymph was good. Being a dryad and all, she was supposed to be knowledgeable on the subject of trees. Ariadne's smile just proved that she was. "They are! And in Spring the blossoms scatter everywhere and it's amazing! Oh, and if you want to see a fir tree, you could come visit Micah. He...she? is really pretty."

"You don't know the gender of your tree?" Ariadne asked. She was skeptical like her brother, but she was also more open-minded to the idea of trees having genders and being alive in a more animate way. They were already alive. Why not in a more animate way. Flowers mated, through bees, mind you, but still, why not. They could have a gender.

"Ariadne, we should seriously get going," Lysander said. He was a very physically strong young man, but he'd been carrying his duffel bag as well as her own all night. They was enough to make something relatively light seem heavy. It'd been hours.

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

Julie smiled at Ariadne's question. "No, I don't. I never really asked Micah what gender it is. I guess I should, huh?" Julie really liked Ariadne. The girl was much nicer and much more accepting of Julie's strangeness than Lysander. He just seemed so impatient all the time. The nymph wondered how Ariadne could stand it.

Julie wasn't sure how to feel when Lysander mentioned that he and Ariadne should get going. On the one hand, she knew that he was right, and that the humans really should get to Camp. On the other, she really enjoyed being with them, and was afraid that after they left now they'd have so much fun at Camp that they'd forget to visit her. The girl was torn, so she didn't say or do anything, and just kept silent.

Ariadne nodded at her brother before looking at Julie.
"Can't you come with us?" she asked. She felt more comfortable having Julie with them. Even though she trusted her brother's decisions, Lysander was just as clueless as she was and Ariadne was smart enough to understand that.

Her brother looked at her after she asked the question. He guessed he didn't mind having Julie come along. She had led them out of the forest and was knowledgeable of the area. Lysander and Ariadne had never been to Long Island, let alone New York. He could admit to himself he could use a guide. He was just to arrogant to say it aloud.

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

When Ariadne asked if she could come with them, Julie looked thoughtful. She could come with them, but she never did feel all that comfortable at Camp. But she didn't want to leave Ariadne with just her brother. He'd protect her, but he probably wouldn't be too nice about it. The girl needed someone to make her laugh.

Her mind was made up. "Okay, I'll come!" She noticed that Lysander didn't give any input on the notion of her accompanying them, but she really didn't care. No opinion meant that he was fine with it.

OOC: We may need to move to Half-Blood Hill soon, since we're basically out of the Forest.

"Then we shall continue," Lysander said. He gestured toward the hill and for them to continue. He would follow behind them just in case. Since the attack on their lives, Lysander had been vigilant. He wanted to be prepared. These creatures that had been popping up since they were eleven were strong. The gunshot to the shoulder had made him realize that. But part of him was still denying their existence. How could you logically explain this. His world was about to be turned upside down.

» Walking in the forest... No I am not lost! (Private to Depressio)
» Just hanging out ( Private to Kristen, Alec and Krayven)
» Never trust a blind 15 year old with a knife. [private to Alec]
» Being at the forest (PRIVATE)
» Fog in the Forest (Private)