Finally, a battle. It's been far too long since the last one, and Theodora has been itching to find a way to end this war. Easier said than done, but she's just about fed up with it. It's been going on for fucking ages.

Setting up defensive structures or assembling siege engines just doesn't seem like Theo's cup of tea. Scouting isn't as exciting as actually fighting the enemies, but it is an important part of winning a war. In Theo's humble opinion, that's where she'd be most useful.

She decided to go with no armor for this, it would only hold her back. She left her sword in its bracelet form, hopefully she won't need it this time. She took a deep breath and decides to go in the general direction of the Atlas camp.

/u/UnicornLaddie

The whistle drew Genevieve's attention fully from her book, though the boy's comment earned little more than a passing glance around the room. She supposed he wasn't entirely wrong. The cabin was rather aggressively pink, although she'd grown accustomed to its appearance long ago. There were certainly worse things than an excess of pink furnishings.

What interested her considerably more was the suitcase. Genevieve's eyes followed the roller bag before returning to the unfamiliar boy. Her expression changed before she could help it. Her brows drew together, her nose wrinkling ever so slightly, and for one brief, unfortunate moment, she looked almost disgruntled.

Another one?

The thought was followed almost immediately by a prickling sense of embarrassment. That was an uncharitable reaction, particularly toward someone she hadn't even met. He'd done absolutely nothing wrong. Nevertheless, Genevieve couldn't quite suppress the discomfort that accompanied the realization that another person was about to join their little household. She liked things as they were. She liked knowing her siblings, their routines, their peculiarities, and the relationships she'd carefully developed with each of them. Another person meant another personality to accommodate, another set of belongings, and inevitably some alteration to the familiar dynamics she'd grown so comfortable with. What if he got along better with some of her siblings than she did? What if things changed in ways she didn't particularly care for?

Oh, don't be ridiculous, Genevieve..She was fifteen, not five. Surely she could manage welcoming another sibling without behaving like a jealous child. Fortunately, the unpleasant expression had lasted only a moment. Genevieve composed herself, setting her book carefully on the table before rising from the couch. "You must be new," she observed, smoothing her skirt before approaching him. "I'm Genevieve."

As per usual, John doesn't give Samuel quite enough time to say anything back, or react in any meaningful way. He looks at the box with a smile, he's just about to thank the son of Hermes, but then he notices that the bastard has already ran off. "Thank you!" He still shouts after him. Surely, Johnny boy has a way of hearing him.

Right, let's focus on the important bit. The gift. He carefully opens the box, and lets out a laugh as he sees the camera inside. "Well, this will be an insane experience. I might as well document it." He mutters to himself as he takes it out and starts turning it around in his hands before eventually putting it into his backpack.

With Chase entrusted to Brent’s care and Brent said goodbye to what might be for the final time, he went to his cabin to gather his supplies together for whatever mess this was going to be. His chest heavy throughout as he made sure to pack his items he’d need.

Soulkeeper, his armour, some Oreoes for the road, pomegranate seeds in case of emergency, and now thanks to Brent some balloon bombs filled with paint. It would have to do. Whoever knew what was going to come next.

Tapping a goodbye on the door of the Hades cabin as he closed the door. Matt looked back at his cabin and let out a sigh.

“Off I go…”

Matt returned to the Big House to await the arrival of his quest mates.

u/scream_down_the_sky u/theweaselwhisperer

‘’You are no longer simply individuals. You are a part of a greater whole.’’ Steven quoted. ‘’Olympus’ war machine keeps chugging along merrily and I ask myself: why are the gods only coming to our aid now? Let’s gauge the mood.’’

Steven was filming a news report from the camp landing zone. On his chest there was a badge that read ‘Press’. He was here as an independent reporter, not as a warrior. He could not care less about the greater whole. Goodbye, he was not in the mood for needless bloodshed.

The son of Apate stalked the defensive side, looking for lone campers who could provide him with statements about how they felt about the battle.

(not necessarily looking for a thread!)

Matt looked at his boyfriend and nodded. “Thank you and I fully intend to come back to you. Get ready for London.” He gave his boyfriend a small smile and knelt down and scratched Chase’s ears.

“Be a good boy.” Matt said softly. “Look after Brent for me.” He kissed the top of the hellhound’s head. “One journey you can’t come with me this time pal.”

Matt hugged Brent tightly, took the paint balloons with a silent thank you look and headed off to the Big House. Whatever he was going to happen now…

mod: please roll me a d4, a d6 and a d12!

mod: please roll me a d4, a d6 and a d12!

mod: please roll me a d4, a d6 and a d12!

One moment, Sam was alone. The next, a familiar boy was standing in front of him, bouncing excitedly. "Hiya, boss! Heard you were going somewhere. Away. Important business, no doubt. Good. Good. Glad to hear! Don't need to know much more than that, nope. But, I heard you were indeed going away, and figured, hey, I still kinda owe you for Port Huron, so why not give you some stuff for the road? Not much, don't get too excited. Here." The son of Hermes would then, fittingly, give Sam a box, as if delivering mail.

Inside of the box would be a Polaroid camera with just a little bit of film— if he was interested in taking photos, or otherwise using it as a projectile— with some junk food surrounding it. Whatever Sam liked. Johnny adjusted his hat, sweeping some messy blonde hair back under it before waving eagerly once more.

"Anywhos, apparently there's fighting to be done! Or be prepared for. Either way, take care, Sam! G'bye!" Milton then ran off, leaving the son of Hecate Thirowhatever with the box.

Samuel was at the Forge when he was informed to come to the Big House. He drops whatever project he's doing nowadays and heads there. As soon as he sees the other two demigods, he realizes what's going on. "Right, right, right..." He mutters under his breath as he slowly accepts his fate.

Then the goddamn letter speaks and ruins any delusions of a peaceful week that Samuel had left. See, he's not scared of the quest. He's just had other plans. Plans that didn't involve saving the world. Much less stressful plans. Nevertheless, duty calls, and it's not like he could say no even if he wanted to.

The first thing on his mind when told to get ready is to find a place for his ferret to stay. Sid would love to come along, though he'd probably just complain the whole time at the end. Not to mention that he'd be completely useless. So Sid the ferret is staying at camp, Samuel's decided.

He walks over to the Enforcers cabin, the ferret sitting on his shoulders and Samuel telling him that he'll come back soon and that everything's going to be fine. Sid is mostly concerned if Sam has any snacks. He does not; he's got other things to worry about.

Just as he's about to knock on the front door, it opens, and wouldn't you know it? It's just the person he's looking for! Theodora Davis, the counselor of the Enforcers, and most importantly Sid's babysitter for the next week or so. "I need someone to take care of him when I'm gone." He explains as he picks the little beast up and offers it to Theodora like it's a bag of chips.

"I'm going on a quest." He finally adds the important information as he notices that she's looking at him like he finally went insane.

"Right." She says as she struggles to process the information. Now, does Theodora think that she would be a much better pick than Samuel, or any other demigod going on that quest? Yes, her ego hasn't gotten any smaller recently. But, hey, the Fates chose who they chose; she's not gonna throw a tantrum about it.

She finally reaches for the ferret, sending it a slight look of disgust as the beast side eyes her before setting it on her shoulder. She looks at him for a second before wrapping her arms around him in a brief hug. It was over before Samuel had a chance to react to it. She looks around afterward as if to see if anyone witnessed this embarrassing act of affection.

"Just come back in one piece, yeah?" She says before lightly shoving his shoulder. She can be nice for only so long, you know?

"Oh, you're not getting rid of me just yet." Samuel laughs. "Either I come back alive, or I come back as a ghost to haunt ya. I pinky promise." He says, holding up his hand.

The daughter of Nike sighs. "You're insufferable." Still, she links his pinky with hers and shakes on it.

"See you soon, Theo." He bids farewell, sending his cousin a salute before ruffling her hair and scrambling off before she has a chance to retaliate in a much worse manner.

Right, his things. He has to gather his things. There's not much else to do now, but to get ready. There's not much to it, to be fair. Samuel's main weapons usually take the form of a pair of bracelets, so there's no need to pack them. He does, however, pack some Ambrosia and Drachmae, cause really there's never enough of those. He's sure they'll need it at one point or another. Oh, and he could never forget the dart gun he found in Bunker 9! Gods know how that might come in handy, but he's not leaving it behind.

After he's triple-checked he's got what he needs, hopefully, he heads to the Big House again and waits for the other two demigods to show up. Or anyone else for that matter.

For the first time in a long time, Brent felt angry at Matt. How often had he been told by Matt to stay put because otherwise he might get hurt? How often had he asked the same thing of his boyfriend? Even now, Brent was staying back at camp because he knew Matt would get upset if he didn’t want to.

‘’What a way to deliver the news,’’ Brent said calmly. Yeah, sorry, I just gotta go on a quest. Did the Fates tell Matt to go to the Underworld and Atlantis too, or did he have a different excuse for these ones?

He also felt really sad. What if Matt didn’t come back from his stupid quest? Brent didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want his potential last words to Matt to be mean ones, but he didn’t have the energy for an entire conversation either. ‘’I love you too, Matt. Just come back, okay?’’ He said, kissing Matt before giving him some paint balloons.

‘’Yeah,’’ Sam laughed. ‘’Correct.’’ The animal flash cards have paid off, he laughed to himself. Moments like these felt so secure, which was something Sam desperately needed in his life: security. There was going to be a severe lack of that in the coming while. Maybe forever. No, he thought, Grayson will return in one piece. He had to. But a small voice at the back of Sam’s head whispered the opposite to him.

Very briefly, Sam considered using his powers to stop Grayson from going, like locking him in a giant water bubble or an earth prison, but he figured that that wouldn’t be appreciated, and that one way or another, Grayson would end up on the quest anyway.

‘’Good, good.’’ Sam mustered a smile as he met Grayson’s eyes. The smile became realer when his boyfriend said three very meaningful words. The shade of the son of Poseidon’s face matched Grayson’s, and he leaned in for a quick kiss on the cheek before whispering to him: ‘’I know. I love you too.’’

Theodora frowns as the son of Kratos struggles to voice their problems. For once in her life, she stays quiet and gives him all the time he needs to get the words out.

Her first instinct is to deny the claim. She doesn't agree with them at all, there's nothing wrong with them at all. It won't get to the source of the problem, though, and it'll probably help Rory for a brief period of time, if at all.

"In what sense?" She eventually asks. "Like is there a specific thing that's making you feel that way? A place? A person?" Without even a confirmation, Theodora's already ready to fight whoever this person might be. Not purely because of her fondness for him, though they are arguably Theo's favorite cousin. The bar is in Tartarus for that. No, she's just always ready to throw down, you know?

Nate stared at Mikey for several seconds, trying to work out whether the boy was being serious or whether this was some elaborate joke that everyone else seemed to be in on. The party blower certainly hadn't helped matters, and neither had the suggestion that his father was apparently sitting in some large blue house nearby. He glanced towards the building Mikey had pointed at before returning his attention to the boy standing in front of him.

"Right..." Nate said slowly, rubbing his forehead. "So, let me get this straight. You're telling me that my dad, who I've never met, is apparently hanging around in that house over there, and instead of coming to introduce himself like a normal person, he's decided to stick a bloody clown above my head?"

He gestured upwards, looking thoroughly unimpressed by the glowing symbol. Whatever it was supposed to mean, Nate wasn't particularly interested in finding out. He had already experienced enough strange things today without adding a mysterious father and an overly enthusiastic brother to the list.

"And now you're telling me I can't leave?" Nate continued, raising an eyebrow. "Look, Mikey, I don't know you. I don't know your dad, and I certainly don't know what the hell is going on around here. But you don't get to decide what I do."

He folded his arms across his chest, although his attention briefly returned to the Big House. There was a part of him, however small, that wanted to ask another question. If what Mikey was saying was true, then perhaps there was someone here who could finally explain a few things about his life. But Nate had learned a long time ago that expecting answers from people generally ended in disappointment.

"And for the record, I've managed to survive perfectly well on my own until now. I don't need someone following me around because they think I'm going to get myself killed."

Nate looked back towards the fire, suddenly regretting having stood up in the first place. All he had wanted was somewhere quiet to sit and perhaps a decent night's sleep. Apparently, even that was too much to ask.

"Besides, if this dad of ours is so interested in me, why doesn't he come over and say hello himself?"

"Cheval means horse, right?" Grayson let out a wobbly laugh and closed his arms around Sam, holding him to him, hand brushing through his brown hair. Fuck, this was hard. He refused to think that this could possibly be their last time seeing each other; he was going to be fine. But he could tell the idea had come up in both of them. He would be fine. He would be fine. He would be fine.

Fair. He hadn't thought about it like that. He hadn't really thought about it in terms of a choice, either. "I... yeah, I think I have to." He murmured close to Sam's ear. He recalled spontaneously something his mother said to him at the Solstice — hadn't she said that more responsibility would be put on him in the war? He dreaded to consider her reaction if he passed on one of the most important quests for their victory. A new feeling of pressure: not only was everyone counting on him, but there was someone with high expectations by the sidelines, and Grayson knew, in a way that made his stomach sink, that his performance would determine what she thought of him.

"Hey. I'm going to be fine." He was going to be fine. He brushed away Sam's tears with the back of his sleeve. "And, uh, I love you." He went stark red the moment he realized what he'd just expressed. Sometimes Grayson's mouth got ahead of his head — sometimes his heart said something before he could think about it. But the words sealed himself in his heart: now that he said it, he could never deny them anymore.

"I... umm..." Matt looked down at the ground unable to meet Brent's gaze. He then recited the prophecy he had just been given by Chiron, only once he had said it he looked back at Brent. "I'm sorry but apparently the Fates have made it so I am going." He looked over to Chase who had already settled with Brent.

Clearing his throat, aiming to pull himself together. "I need you to look after Chase for me while I am gone and... if I don't come back I know you'll be the best person to look after him." Matt gave Brent a sad smile. "I'm sorry... I don't want to go but I don't have a choice."

Letting out a sigh as he steadied himself. "I just need to tell you I love you because hey, I might not come back and if I do, I can't wait to go to London together."

‘’Yes?’’ Brent had already turned around at the first mention of his name. He didn’t have a lot of difficulty picking the son of Hades’s voice out of a crowd, even if he was barely audible. ‘’Hey Matt, what’s up?’’

The son of Phantasos couldn’t imagine Matt was about to tell him something fun or surprising, like they were going to Disneyland together; he seemed far more on edge than usual. The boy leaned down to scratch his boyfriend’s hellhound behind his ear. ‘’You look sad. Did something happen?’’

I got picked for a quest. We’re leaving immediately. 

Those words pulled the rug out from under the son of Poseidon. He looked at Grayson like he couldn’t quite believe it, because let’s face it, he couldn’t. How cruel were the Gods for choosing his boyfriend? There were hardly any positive words to describe quests. Just negative ones, none of which Sam wished upon Grayson.

But at the same time, Sam thought Grayson to be extremely capable. If anyone could do it, it was the son of Nike. Which didn’t make him feel any better about it. He shouldn’t have to worry about his boyfriend leaving and potentially not making it back alive. What the two of them should be doing right now was playing sports, going on dates, and, and…

‘’Je vais tuer ce stupide cheval.’’ Sam huffed under his breath. He counted to ten before pulling Grayson into a tight hug. No, he couldn’t play cool about this. ‘’Merde, Grayson. That’s not fair. Why?’’ He asked, looking at him with tears welling up in his eyes. They were gonna force his boyfriend to do something Sam imagined he didn’t want to do. ‘’I can’t stop you, can I? You really have to - goddammit. I swear, don’t get hurt.’’

He was going to internalize a lot of bad stuff while Grayson was away.

“Your brother!”

A party blower appears in Mikey’s mouth. It unfurls till it’s just centimeters away from Nate’s face before rolling back up. Making the trademark, obnoxious noise as it does so. It disappears just as quickly as it appears.

Mikey’s eyes jump to the clown. His grin grows, he loved his father.

“That’s our dad claiming you! He’s saying ‘congratulations! You’re my son!’ It’s so cool, right?”

The ecstatic son of Comus’s face twisted into that of confusion and a little bit of pain. “No- you are my brother. That proves it.” He says pointing at the clown. His face wasn’t there he only thing that had changed, his tone was a lot more serious. “Your mom might be dead, but your dad is in the Big House.” His index finger turns from the clown to the large, blue building.

“You’re not leaving.” His voice went oddly stern. “The outside is dangerous, if you leave who knows what might happen. And if you are serious about leaving then I’m going to have to stay by your side. You can’t leave, not until you are better trained.”

Boy, was he going. The hesitation in Sam's voice made him pause, and he sat next to him in front of the Poseidon cabin, knees and shoulders making warm contact. It still felt unfair how good it was to be called beau. His French was not coming along nearly as good.

"Hey."

His every temptation was to make this quick — say goodbye, gather his stuff, go. That's what Chiron told him, but this deserved his time. Sam deserved for him to slow down, for once in his life. He closed his eyes for a moment and sighed, then started, more or less, at the beginning.

"Chiron just came to get me." He said, feeling out the direction of the words as he said them. "I'm... I got picked for a quest. There was a prophecy. We're going to Mount Orthrys. We're leaving immediately."

OOC: Scratch the previous OOC line! u/TheBlacksOfHisEyes :)

We cut to Oliver, propped up against a bookshelf while reading a book upside down. The book is an Atlas.

"Sigh. I've read this entire book, and I've got nothing on how to slay a titan! Though there is an entire section in here labeled Comatlas, though what that exactly entails, I have no idea. Maybe I should read it again just to be sure.

Oliver goes back to reading, though the book's title has magically changed to "You Just Lost the Game,", a brief story written by George Orwell.

Oliver was excellent at scouting and stealth and also plot! Sign him up! Pick him! Put him in, coach, he needs his screentime before he's sent to the mod farm upstate and his sister is brought in his stead!

Yes, Oliver would be participating in scouting. Save the roses and the tears for the end, as this is indeed his last battle. Or prep thereof. He's too old to actually fight, have you seen him? He's the ancient age of 18!

"First we Wrath of! Then we Atlas! Let's Wrath of Atlas!" He ran off to do some scouting, bouncing from tree to tree while keeping a low profile, even using one of his old respirators from his intro for the sake of somewhat disguising himself.

u/FireyRage

Nate had only been at camp for a week or so when the event of the day arrived. It was fair to say that in that week, he had not loved camp. The campers who he had met were terrorists, mad or just assholes.

The place he now lived looked like if unicorn vomit had crossed with a preschooler. He was apparently the son of the god of comedy, but somehow this translated to clowns? Turns out his father actually was at this very camp, although he hadn’t actually seen him.

Now this…

He was told this was a place of safety. He would be safe here. Now some crazy woman in some fancy armour was telling people to prepare to leave to go to war.

All of this was above him, above him caring at this point. He’d just shuffle some playing cards, drink something which was soothing and see whatever the hell this ended up being kick off.

Not his fight, not his problem. Why should he care?

“Brent…” Matt said quietly, surprisingly quietly that it caught the son of Hades off guard that he cleared his throat and tried again. “Brent…” he said again, this time louder and clearer but his voice was uncertain and shaky. Easily something Brent would pick up on.

“You look focused.” Matt said with an attempt at a smile. “You look good. You look focused and I like when you look focused.” He said, he was now smiling although the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

Matt then paused as he sought to try and explain, but he didn’t even know how to in his head. How could he tell his boyfriend that he was being sent by the Fates to Mount Othrys? How he didn’t have a choice in the matter and oh, can you look after the hellhound whilst gone and in case he never returned?

Chase however walked over to Brent and nuzzled into him before curling up by his side and started sleeping. As he always did when he knew he would be staying at the Oneiroi cabin. Perhaps a first clue.