Temper, temper! *Alexander Figgles, Private*

Charity glared at the water in front of her. She'd messed up again. After training for weeks-no, months-she still couldn't beat anyone while sparring. What kind of weakling daughter was she? Not one that would amount to anything. Not one that would be able to help if there was a serious fight.

She was standing on the beach, wearing her swim suit and shorts. The sun was beginning to set. Curfew was approaching, but she didn't care. She hated losing. She was an awful loser. But she'd learned the hard way that weakness gets people killed. Her hand moved to the Fleur De Lis charm on her necklace. History was not going to repeat itself.

Charity jumped in surprise at the voice. She forgot her anger for a moment as she stared at the glowing person. "I wouldn't mistake you for my father, don't worry." She sighed and looked back at the water. She found her eyes wandering back to the glowing boy again. It was hard not to look at him because of the aforementioned glowing. This made her uncomfortable. She wasn't in the mood to be social. She was angry. She didn't feel like being nice, but this glowing boy intrigued her, and her curiosity was getting the better of her.

"Why do you glow whenever water touches you?" She asked after a few minutes.

"Oh, interesting. It's kinda pretty." She thought for a moment. Did that make him a monster? She decided not to ask him. It probably wouldn't go over well. "I'm Charity, by the way. What's your name?"

By this time, her anger had pretty much slipped away. She was actually kind of enjoying this strange conversation with this...person. She gave a small smile and stepped into the water. "As you've probably guessed, my dad's Apollo."

I saw this glowing person on the beach and as a reaction, I shouted "Apollo?"
Carter Whelan, Son of Hephaestus, 15

Charity raised and eyebrow. "I'll stick with Parker." She fully submerged and ducked under to cool herself off a little. She came up smiling. She really liked the beach, which was the main reason she'd gone here instead of training more. "Why do they call you those names? That's really mean of them." She dug her toes into the sand, enjoying the feeling.

~Son of Poseidon, this is a private topic~

"Because.... I'm half monster... they think I don't belong. I never have, never will. I don't mind... I've had only one person who actually... liked me," I said and grew cclaws. I backstroked into the water and came back up, my white hair shining. I started to glow brighter. I jumped ten feet to the shore. I landed and rolled onto my back. I dried off. Then I turned to my usual green color, I had scales and spikes knuckles...

Charity probably would have fallen over if she was on the shore. As it was, her foot slipped and her head dunked under water. She had also taken a sharp breath as she went under, choking on water. When she came up, she was coughing and wheezing so hard her eyes started to water.

"Sorry," She gasped. "You surprised me." She looked up and saw a green, scaly, spiked monster. She took a step backward in spite of herself. "Wow."

"No! No wait!" Charity felt awful. If he hadn't surprised her by jumping to shore, it wouldn't have been that bad. She swam after him. "Wait, I'm really sorry. You caught me off guard. I know you're the same person. There's nothing wrong with you." A small voice in her pointed out that there were several things wrong with everybody, but she didn't think that relevant at the moment.

"I'm really sorry, Parker. That was stupid of me."

Charity swam to shore and stood in front of him, hands on her hips. "One last chance? Before what? You rip me to shreds? I don't believe that you would do that." She leaned forward slightly and smiled at him. She had to admit this was probably a bad idea, but after how she'd acted, she didn't really care. It hadn't been the warmest welcome, but she wasn't about first impressions. She thought they were usually completely wrong, so she usually disregarded them.

"I don't think you'll hurt me." She said again. "What do you think?"

Charity leaned back again, a grin on her face. "Good! I'm glad that's settled." She walked calmly back to the water and got back in. She took the few seconds she had facing away from Parker to let out just how scared she had been. By the time she turned back to Parker, she was smiling again. She looked at his expression. He didn't look very happy. She gave him a concerned look.

"What's wrong?" Her voice was gentler now, less energetic than it had been before.

"Ok." She swam around for a few minutes, giving Parker some peace. It was hard to keep her eyes off him though, what with the glowing. She felt like he probably didn't want to talk to her anymore, so she tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. She hoped beyond hope that Riley wouldn't show up and freak out about Parker. He would. He was a German Shepherd for gods' sake. He was the most protective animal she had ever met. She was also not sure if he was tame, though he tended to do what she told him.

A monster appeared on the shore and swam next to me.

"Hey kid? Is that you're new girlfriend there?" One of my brothers asked me."Chimera?" I asked out of nowhere.
"Yeah thats me. Now are you going to take her into your cave or what?" Chimera asked."Wha-What? NO! I am not taking her into my 'Cave'" I said back."You should, she's hot," Chimera said.
"Shut up. You know damn well why I haven't asked her out yet," I replied. Yeah cause your too chicken!" Chimera yelled.
"FINE! I'LL ASK HER OUT! GET OFF MY BACK!"
"Hi, Charity will you go out with me?" I said, The Chimera laughing his head off in the background.

Charity turned and looked at Parker in surprise. She hadn't been expecting that one. She struggled to find her voice, but when she did she couldn't think of what to say. "Um, well..." Truthfully, she hadn't ever thought of anyone...well, almost anyone that way. She also didn't know Parker that well. But if she said no, then he'd think she was a hypocrite, or he'd be really disappointed. She took a deep breath. She wasn't going to be guilt tripped into this. But what was she supposed to say?

"Um," Her hand was clutching her necklace again. She felt the initials etched into the charm. JL. He would want her to find someone, to be happy, right? "I don't know. I'm kind of, it's complicated. 'Cause, my friend, he..." She looked up at Parker, begging him not to take any of this the wrong way.

"See I told you Chimera, you know damn well why. Ever since Agile left, The gods cursed me with not being able to find anyone else!" I said to Chimera, punching him in the arm.
"How was I supposed to know that?" He asked.
"CAUSE I ****ING TOLD YOU!!" I yelled at him, he pounced on me. I punched him. He pawed my face. I took my chain and slashed him with it. He started to dissolve.
"Jeez can't take a joke?"
I kicked his dusty form into smitherines. I smiled. Good riddance. The gods have now used the curse the second time.
"Sorry about that, stupid brother," I spat blood into the water and I submerged into it.

Charity watched in horror as they fought. She was relieved, however that Parker hadn't, ya know, keeled over, as it were. Still, she felt really guilty. She wished she could explain, well, no, she didn't want to explain. She wanted him to understand that she was still freaking out about the death of Jake. She supposed that was kind of stupid of her, seeing as it had been almost four years ago.

Even so, she didn't have feelings for Parker. She liked friends, but she hadn't found some one she'd connected with like that. Maybe if she got to know him better....

"Hey, Parker." He submerged. She sighed. "Parker!" She hit the water, trying to get him to resurface.

Charity was taken aback by how cheerful he was when he came back up. She tilted her head and shrugged. "Um, I was just gonna say I'd like to be friends." She paused. That was the thing girls were known for, wasn't it? The whole 'We can still be friends', thing. But Parker didn't seem upset what had just happened, so she let it drop.

"Yeah, well, he's a chimera. Probably just jealous that you glow in the water." She grinned and pulled her hair into a ponytail.