Unfortunately... {Q} (Aria, Avery)

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan hissed and rolled his eyes. Between Ms. Bubbly and Fire Head, this was going to be a very long quest. He wondered if they would just end up killing each other before getting touched by any monsters. Pleasant thought. When he really thought about it, he had no idea why he had agreed to himself to take Avery. They were completely opposite. She was all happy, optimistic, high tolerance level, and all those good positive things. Ryan on the other hand, was the opposite. He was always mean, negative and pessimistic. As far as tolerance went, he had a fuse as small as a gnat's wing. He was sort of sure that Avery had caught onto this, but had just decided to ignore it. Avery sort of fascinated him; she also reminded him a tad bit of Nike.

He shut his mouth, totally dreading what was coming up. Ryan had never been on a boat, or had been near any large amount of water in his life. He had avoided the river the best he could with exception of Kaycee and finding the Blake boy. Ryan gave an involuntary shiver and a slight wave of nausea passed over him; that had been one of the most sick thing he had ever had to do in his life. He hoped that he would never have to do it again; tough luck, it'd probably turn out that he would have to do it again. Nothing ever worked out for him, so why should this? The fifteen year old's mind went to when he found the dead body near the water. He had seen Celeste bring him back, it had been beyond freaky. And he thought patching up himself after a spar session with his aunt had been gross.

The demigod wasn't much of a beach person either. He was more for the forest, but it wasn't like he'd ever tell anyone that. So, he just ignored the sound of the water (he wanted to keep water out of his mind as long as possible), the sky, and the beach itself. For once, there was silence between all three of them and Ryan used it to just try and not freak himself out. He was so hating the gods for giving him a quest with water. He had zero knowledge of boats, zero knowledge of where they were going and zero knowledge of swimming know how gods forbid something went wrong. Ryan rolled his eyes; again with the demigod's luck. The closest he had got to swimming, was the bathtub in his house. Then again, that wasn't saying anything since he had only grown up with a shower.

As they arrived at the boat, Ryan really didn't know what to expect. He didn't have any boat knowledge, so he didn't really know, well, anything. He looked at Avery, half dreading this so much. So very, very much. "I... don't know, actually," he confessed in a grumble and feeling slightly sick. No, he had no idea where they were headed. The fifteen year old went to glare at Aria and to some sort of extent, failed. "I don't know, alright?" he half growled. The fact that she had called him 'great leader' just made this ten times worse. "Useless Oracle Girl didn't exactly say: 'Thou shalt go ten miles north and then make a left'!" he snapped in a mimicking voice. The only part in the stupid riddle was 'You will search the ocean wide', they were near the ocean, so Ryan had just decided to start there.

OOC: ^^ Hope that's alright
Character Name: Ryan Simons, Little Buddy, RyRy
Word From the Character: .... I friggin hate this stupid quest.
Mood: Angry, Slightly Anxioius
To: Avery Reynolds (Bubbly), Aria Hale
IC Word Count: 607
Made by: Ellie Brigid at Olympian Prophecy

[/size][/font]

[Avery Reynolds]

Avery looked at the boat with pride - as though it were her very own possession. Hell, she used it often enough for it to count as her own boat. She loved using this thing. It was useful in quick getaways, especially from angry campers who she may or may not have pulled pranks on. Quite honestly, she really had no idea who truly owned this boat because whenever she was around to use it, nobody else was. The actual owners never showed their faces. Sometimes Avery liked to think that the boat was, in actuality, hers, because nobody ever came to use it. She saw it as liberating the boat from its useless confines, and even though she was no natural sailor, she loved that boat like it was a pet of hers.

When she asked where they were headed, and so did Aria, and Ryan replied, her mouth dropped open. Before it was noticeable, Avery shut it and looked at the boat as if to say to the inanimate object, "Boy, am I screwed." If they had no idea where they were going, this quest could take months, maybe even years. A more practical problem was the amount of fuel left in the boat. She had no idea when it had last been refill,ed or whether or not the fuel was still good. And if the fuel ran out while they were on open sea... Avery shuddered. That means the quest could possibly last years. She wouldn't be able to survive that, that was for sure.

"Well, uh, I guess we just sail 'til we find what we're looking for... um... I don't know what that is either." Avery blinked. She realized that she really had absolutely no idea what they were going to be doing on this quest. She hadn't even heard the prophecy for it yet. Gods, she must have been really desperate to get out of camp when she agreed to go on this thing. Either way, Ryan was her little buddy and she wasn't about to let him do this on his own. After all she was indeed a loyal person when it came right down to it, so she was planning on sticking with Ryan right until the end... whatever that end may be. She prayed it didn't involve death of any kind, because death really kind of sucked. Yeah, Avery didn't want to die.

She let out a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair. She headed for the boat and began climbing on. "Well, come on guys. Might as well get this party started... you two don't look so good. Don't tell me you're already getting seasick." Avery made a face. She hated seasickness, and seeing other people with it wasn't particularly enjoyable either. Ryan looked like he was about to be sick period, and little fireball didn't look that much better either. Of all the demigods she was going on a quest with, even if it wasn't hers, she was stuck with the two who hated water... and they had to travel on it for an undefinable amount of time. This was just looking grimmer and grimmer by the minute, but Avery didn't let it show. "Come on, we're wasting daylight! Let's get this show on the road before I get sick." She pulled herself onto the deck over the ladder and looked around. Everything was exactly where she'd left it.

[Aria Hale]

Aria did her best not to snap back at Ryan. It was hard, but it worked, and that was something. She rolled her eyes at his make a left comment. And Annoying’s comment was just, fittingly, annoying. “Yeah, that sounds like an awesome plan.” She said sarcastically. “Just get out your Olympic GPS and plug in ‘whatever the hell we’re looking for’. I’m sure we’ll get a nice direct route, maybe find an Arby’s on the way too.” Okay, so that answered that question: when she got nervous, she seemed to get even more angry and annoying. Well, bit to be the other two.

She watched Avery head over to the boat through narrowed eyes, not because she was particularly angry at Avery herself, just angry at the world. Not that that was a new thing. This was punishment for her crimes, wasn’t it? Travelling with a dork and a happy-go-lucky. Over water. To gods only knew what, and they probably didn’t even know either, bunch of idiots. Greeeeeat. She took a deep breath and followed, not even waiting for Ryan. She just wanted to get on that gods-forsaken piece of flotsam and get this over with! The sooner the better. Then she could get back to her Hades of a life and proceed to ignore Annoying and only grudgingly acknowledge Ryan’s presense.

And Avery being all ‘hey, let’s go! Yay!’ was just annoying. “Then move your fat butt! Kind of hard to do anything with you taking up the ladder, drama queen!” She wasn’t sure if it was her comment that helped or if Annoying was ignoring her by now or what, but Avery did get on the boat - ‘Took her long enough…’ - and Aria climbed up as well, immediately not liking the situation. The boat was nice, sure, but it was a boat. That is to say, there was water below her somewhere. The guardrails were far too short for her liking, though anything shy of six feet tall would be too short. And there was already a puddle of water on the floor. Great, this thing was going to pull a Titanic or something, wasn’t it? Well, she was going to die someday, may as well tempt the Fates like she had the rest of her unhappy life. She looked back to Ryan with an expression that clearly said ‘Move it or lose it, dork.’

[Ryan Simons]

Did Ryan hate this quest? Oh heck yes; and they hadn't even officially started on it yet. One thing he hated? The water part. Second thing he hated? Everything else. The gods, the situation, the stupid oracle girl, her stupid riddle... Why the heck didn't he just sneak out of camp by himself? No! He had to go pick two people on impulse. He mentally hit himself over the head for about the twentieth tine. Maybe finding out that his friend was dead and then getting a quest a few hours later wasn't the best combination. Yes, now that he thought about it, that could be a slight contributing factor. His stomach lurched and he forced himself not to think. Don't remember about the forest. Don't remember the dream that Kath tried to drown you... especially now that your going to be on the water. Don't think about how Ed got shot. Don't remember that you can't swim. Don't think how you walked to Alex's house and just found it empty. Don't think about how you are going to always be a complete failure. Alex is not dead. Don't remember, don't think. Don't...

Avery's mouth dropped open, but shut rather quickly; almost unnoticeable. Ryan, however, did notice it. It was almost scary. Some things you were taught stuck with you for most of your life if they were nailed into you properly. Like analyzing almost every movement people took around you. Sure, on the outside Ryan looked like he was completely ignorant, and sometimes he was; he was ignorant to people's personal things. He was pretty much in to tune with people's movements, their voice, memorizing a scene, how they walked and stuff that would mostly just be useful when fighting. Either in light or darkness. Ryan took one look at the older girl's face and his insides flipped. Yup, he was complete failure; if he said that out loud, Aria would completely jump onto it and agree. Ryan wouldn't argue for once. Then he felt his insides juts caving in. Gods they were going to die. Ryan really wouldn't mind if it was him. It was Avery and Aria he was semi-sorta-very worried about.

"Me neither," Ryan grumbled in a half flat voice, trying to keep the semi defeatedness out of his voice. He wasn't sure if he was succeeding or not though. His eyes turned to Aria. They started off in a glare then slipped into confusion. "What's a-" he bit his tongue, slightly hard and tasted blood. Nothing new. No point in asking what the GPS or what the Arby's was; probably stupid common knowledge that common to him and wasn't even important. Not like she'd tell him anyway, she was probably already ticked off with him enough. He didn't blame her in the slightest. He was pretty ticked off with himself. He decided not to ask what a party was either. He was guessing what Bubbly was trying say was to get going. Ryan half wanted to tell her to forget this whole darn stupid thing.

"I'm fine," he lied blindly. It was easy for him to lie. He had been doing it for fifteen years, why stop now? Of all the things, negativity, sarcasm and lying came easiest to him. It was also sort of safe to say that he had almost perfected all three. "Fine," he half muttered, half growled. He knew he didn't look that good, he was probably half white, but hey, at least he wasn't out cold or something. He gave Avery a glare as she lingered then Aria climbed up. He was last. Aria gave him a familiar glare; one that he had seen plastered on his aunt's face when he didn't move in sparring. Mostly when he was younger. When he was older, she'd just move and strike without warning. Move it, or lose it look. A long time ago's purpose: move or lose blood. For this purpose: a ride on the boat. Right now, he really wished it was Kath glaring at him. Ryan so wanted to decline getting on this Hades trip, but then got a surge of stubbornness. Against his better judgement, he had accepted the quest, and now he was sticking with it. His old fire sparked in his eyes and he glared at Aria. He climbed up. Gods he was about to regret that, wasn't he? Like every other darn thing in his life.

Character Name: Ryan Simons
Mood: Angry, Guilty, Worried, Sick, Stubborn
To: Avery Reynolds (Bubbly), Aria Hale
IC Word Count: 776
Made By: Ellie Brigid at Olympian Prophecy

Legend:
"Ryan Speaking"
Ryan Thinking
Ryan's Story Thinking

[/size][/font]

[Avery Reynolds]

Avery smirked - she couldn't lie, she did at least admire the little Fireball's spunk. One needed it to survive in this world full of monsters and demigods and quests. Her little buddy had it too, and she admired them both, really, in that weird way that demigods did. Avery refused to think about her older brother, considering as he was probably the one demigod she admired the most in this whacked up world. She was determined to keep what had happened today out of her mind - surely thinking about it would only distract her. After all, it wasn't every day that your favorite brother that had once served a Titan attempting to overthrow Olympus came back from the dead.

She shook her head, getting the thought out of her head. She grinned at her two boatmates. By the looks on their pale faces, Avery could tell they wouldn't be any help getting the boat started up. "Guys, stay here - take a seat somewhere or something, but don't get off the deck or touch anything. And don't jump overboard either." Gesturing with her hands to enforce what she was saying, Avery dashed off and went to prepare the boat for sailing.

All in all, the process took a good fifteen minutes. She had to check the gas levels (she thanked the gods that whoever really owned this boat had come to refill the engines and this baby was ready for a long trip, it practically had enough fuel to take them to the Bahamas), turn the boat on, check the navigation systems, ensure that all cables and other important operations were working smoothly and were holding strong, and finally, turn the boat on. Avery went about all of this with an expert hand - even though she was no daughter of Poseidon, she was an expert sailor. A real boatswoman as one would say... if one even called it that.

She turned the boat on and headed off to the captain's quarters - a small room with windows that overlooked the small deck. She opened up the window, and putting the boat on manual controls, she shouted down to her fellow demigods, "I'd like to thank you all for choosing Demigod Cruiselines for your method of transportation. Please keep your hands and feet inside the boat at all times and prepare for a great adventure." Then her voice went serious as she looked out at the sea. It was an expanse of blue and green and gray, and she secretly felt a thrill of going to explore it for whatever they were looking for. "But the water looks pretty smooth today though, guys. I don't think there will be much of a problem sailing today."

[Aria Hale]

Aria looked at Avery like she had some rather disgusting bug crawling out of her nose when she told her and Ryan to stay there and not ‘jump overboard’. No kidding! The water was all of about four feet deep, but like that was going to stop her from not liking it. She rolled her eyes at the stupid request and took a seat on a bench that was as far from the guardrails as possible while staying on the boat, as opposed to just going back to Camp, which actually sounded much more appealing. “Oh yeah, because jumping ship was totally my first priority… idiot,” she muttered, not really caring much if Ryan heard her or not.

She stared out at the water while she waited what seemed like forever. There was so much of it. She knew most of the planet was water, she wasn’t that stupid. But to actually see it… it was kind of overwhelming. Especially for someone who could swim and had a mild fear of the stuff. But if you looked past the small waves jeering up at her with their fathoms of doom and destruction, it was kind of pretty. In a gotta-respect-something-that-can-wield-enough-power-to-kick-your-butt-a-hundredfold-times-at-once way.

Lost in random thinking, she jumped a bit at Annoying’s loud voice and looked around to where she eventually found her in one of the windows. Oh gods, she was playing a cruise hostess? This was going to be the longest freaking trip ever. When her voice got serious, Aria thought maybe she could possibly say something useful. Well, she was only about half wrong. Smooth sailing. That was good news. Right? “Well, yippy skippy,” she called back with her usual sarcasm. “Let’s just go.” As much as she enjoyed not being out on open water, the sooner they got out onto open water, hopefully the sooner they would figure out what they were looking for, find it, and finish this.

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan couldn't really express how much he hated this right now. For some reason, he felt that he had picked the right people, even though they did seem like they were all going to end up killing eachother. Aria was well, Aria. Avery seemed like a pretty alright person too. She could look after herself and hold her own. Ryan had to give it to her for putting up with them both; in all honestly, that had to take some stomach. He looked at her and half thought of Nike, half of Edmund half of everyone else in Camp. Not many of them had the patience for him without snapping and he had just gotten used to it. Most of the time, he snapped right back at them. He thought about how he had met Aria, how every time they had met up, one was sort of off. That was weird. Then in the armory with Avery who was about to pull a prank. Yeah, they all came from different backgrounds and walks of life, but now, they all had to put up with eachother. Yeah. This was going to be pretty hard.

His face was still probably on the pale side, but he managed a slight glare at Avery none the less as she started talking. "Yeah, like we have anywhere else to go but down and in," he snapped, glaring at the water. "Really? Because that's so what I came on here to do," he growled; half of his tone was sarcastic, the other half was close to serious. He didn't turn his head to Aria, but he heard her; nothing passed over his face, but his stomach was slightly churning. Yeah, he was messed up for this quest. He looked back onto the beach and for a moment, he found himself wishing that Avery and Aria were back at Camp and he had snuck out by himself.

He took a seat, far away from the side of the boat as possible. This was going to be so much fun. Sense the sarcasm. Avery went running around to do whatever to the boat and Ryan was stuck on board with Aria, listening to the ocean. It sounded almost peaceful, if he could even get that word into his vocabulary, but very threatening as well. Going onto the ocean on a boat with no swimming experience wasn't the best thing to do in the world.

At first Ryan had no idea where Avery's voice was coming from, until he looked up and through a small window. Ryan was wondering what a Cruseline was, but then assumed it was a form of transportation since that was what came out of her mouth next. In any way though, she sounded like she was kidding around. The last thing on the planet Ryan wanted (or knew) how to do. "Oh, great," he growled, glaring straight ahead.

Character Name: Ryan Simons
Mood: Angry, Slightly Anxious
To: Avery Reynolds, Aria Hale
IC Word Count: 489
Made By: Ellie Brigid at Olympian Prophecy

Legend:
"Ryan Speaking"
Ryan Thinking
Ryan's Story Thinking

[/size][/font]

[Avery Reynolds]

Avery let out a deep breath, unable to contain her excitement about this adventure. Now that she was reasonably alone up in the captain's cabin, Avery felt as though she wasn't really on a quest, but it was just any other ordinary day at camp where she'd come out, steal this boat, and take it for a little trip around the bay. But right now, she was heading out towards the unknown. And while that may have frightened other people, it didn't scare this daughter of Hermes one bit. In fact, it actually made her quite eager to get everything started.

Which is exactly what she did. Avery put the boat into gear and very slowly the boat began pulling away from the beach and into the shallow, but deepening, waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Through the open window she breathed in the smells of the ocean as it all came on a breeze, and she glanced down at her two passengers. Neither of them looked very comfortable, and Avery wondered why. Was if possible that they were both afraid of the water, and that was why they'd been acting so strange? Then again, what person was she to judge what strange meant to a couple of demi-gods? After all, to some regular person, Avery was probably extremely strange as well. Eh, it's in the eye of the beholder, she thus decided as she gazed down at the deck.

"I don't really need to go over any safety procedures with you kids, but there's life preservers up in here if anything goes wrong. Which it won't because I'm sailing this thing," she told them, hasty to remind them of what was at the end of that statement. Besides, Avery couldn't have either of them doubting her - it could cause a mutiny. While neither of them probably knew how to drive this thing, she wouldn't put it past Fireball to stab her in the back while she wasn't looking steer the boat clear into rocks somewhere so not only did Ryan drown, but her and Aria as well. That wouldn't be a fun experience.

"So, litle buddy," she then called out, "Out to the ocean I supposed?"

[Aria Hale]

Aria rolled her eyes at Ryan’s sarcasm as well. Seemed he shared her sentiment on this mess. She never bothered to look at him though during the ever-lasting time that Annoying was busying herself around the boat. From this perspective, it didn’t seem too bad. It could be worse, right? Not that she’d let on that she was thinking something that could be considered even slightly optimistic. It only took a fraction of a second for the semi-half-hearted optimism to die away completely though. That was the fraction of a second in which the boat started to move.

As the boat started off, she wrapped her fingers around the edge of the seat on either side of her in a death grip like it was the only think keeping her this side of the Underworld. She could hear the sound of the water sloshing against the side all too clear and it forcibly reminded her that she did not know how to battle the cold, wet adversary. That, and she was horribly afraid of… death. She’d seen death so much growing up, one would think she’d be desensitized to it, but perhaps it was the proximity, and sometimes being the cause, that made her hyper-sensitive. At least, to her own end. She still had nightmares on occasion that those she had seen perish, or even her own father, would rise again to strike her down. But this wasn’t an opposing gang member or some heartless sun god. This was an endless horizon of unknown; she was surrounded by something perhaps even more merciless than a territorial gang: the open ocean. And she could slice or shoot at it all she wanted, it didn’t care. The sun glinted off a wave like it was winking at her tauntingly.

She nearly snapped at Avery, just for the fact that she spoke. Somehow, her safety briefing wasn’t reassuring. For one, Aria wasn’t fully sure what a life preserver was or how to operate one. For another, the fact that Avery was at the controls did not seem like good enough reason to not fear a sudden violent assault by H₂O. Mentally smacking herself for freaking out, she did her best to hide her nervousness and looked to Ryan when Avery addressed him. Come to think of it, she had no idea what was ahead of them. She’d been too focused on the prospect of water to even realize that.

Word Count: 426

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan wasn't looking forward to this at all. Seeing Avery so excited just made him want to go up to the so called control top and slap her. She acted like this was a joy trip! Something Alex had called a cruise, yes that was it. Sightseeing and fancy meals included. What Ryan wouldn't give for being in the forest or even the dreaded Cabin right now. Hermes or Ares; that was how much he hated this. The Cabin and Camp might of been Hades, but at least it wouldn't get anyone killed. Well, that Blake kid did get... Ryan's stomach nearly flipped on him again and he bit his tongue. At least at that Hades, he wasn't the one killing people. This was his quest, so gods forbid someone die, it was all his fault.

He stood stock still and widened his stance, even though he was sitting down. He was taking all measures not to fall, anywhere. On the boat, or in the water, he didn't care; he didn't want to fall at all. The demigod nearly bit his tongue and drew blood again when Avery started to talk. Sheesh, can't you just get on with it? Ryan thought angrily. He wasn't to happy to be here, if they got that drift. It wasn't hard to catch, in all factuality. "That makes me so assured," Ryan growled, his usual bitter sarcasm seeping into his voice as he spoke to the older Hermes girl, but slightly toned down.

"I'm not your little buddy!" Ryan snapped back stubbornly; gods, he was having a feeling that neither of them would ever let that go. The next question brought him back to earth, or rather sea; which is what he hated. It all came tumbling down on him. He was really letting go to the land and going onto the water. Ryan never had any experience with water, excluding the shower and drinking. He looked out at the ocean. They were going to be on that large and rather violent, and open water. So powerful and taunting it could easily kill them, especially him, in three to ten seconds. If he didn't die from drowning, with his demigod luck, he'd get eaten or something by a creature or whatever that lived in there or die a slow death of a sickness.

"Yeah," he grumbled up to Avery, fully regretting it. He was so going to regret that for the rest of his life. Then again, what didn't he regret? He looked at Aria, who had sort of a death grip on the seat, but didn't comment; in all honesty, he felt like doing that and throwing up at the same time. Half his mind still hadn't accepted the idea that he was on a quest with two others and they were heading out to the very dreaded ocean.

OOC: Sorry for the wait! I went away which put me behind, then Ryan wouldn't give me his muse -_-
Character Name: Ryan Simons aka Little Buddy or Sandy
Mood: Angry, Anxious, Guilty, Angry
To: Avery Reynolds (Bubbly)-Daughter of Hermes and Aria Hale-Daughter of Apollo
IC Word Count: 492
Made By: Ellie Brigid at Olympian Prophecy

Legend:
"Ryan Speaking"
Ryan Thinking
Ryan's Story Thinking

[/size][/font]

[Avery Reynolds]

Avery continued to ignore the snide comments coming up from deck, from Fireball and Ryan. It was obvious that they didn't have faith in her amazing boating skills, so she'd just have to show them what a good boat captain she was. As she sat up in the captain's cabin, she set a course for the open ocean and locked the wheel so that it wouldn't turn inexpectantly and send them all overboard into the cold salwater below.

But unlike her two companions, Avery was a spectacular swimmer. Spending almost ten years at camp, around the water and around the ocean, had made an impression on her. She used to spend almost all of her time during the summer when she wasn't busy dodging instructors and skipping out on lessons out by the sea, either swimming or hanging out on the beach. She wasn't one of those campers who spent all of her time in one place, though. Avery was used to roaming wherever she wanted to go, whether that was the arena, the rock climbing wall, or the beach. Because of her extensive time spent by the water on the sand, she was also an expert volleyball player. Not that that would ever get her anywhere, but it was still a skill worth reckoning.

"Hey, you guys alright down there? Looking a little peakish down there," she called down to them, looking sincerely concerned. Avery herself had suffered seasickness once, and she knew it wasn't fun. Even though the daughter of Hermes had spunk didn't mean that she didn't have a kind heart. She was stubborn and irritable sometimes, but she never liked the thought of her friends going through pain... even though Fireball wasn't exactly a friend of hers. But she considered Ryan a friend, which was part of the reason why she'd ever even agree to go on a quest like this. "I mean, if you need to upchuck anything, do it over the side of the boat. I am not cleaning up vomit off the deck of this ship. Not cool."

Nope, that was where Avery drew her limits. She was driving them out to sea, but she certainly wasn't doing any janitor work. If they made a mess, they'd clean it up themselves. "But if not just sit tight. Looks like I can't really put any gas on this thing or you two won't keep down your breakfasts. We'll get out there soon enough."