Swords & Songs ( OPEN )

[Natalie Ramsey]

Natalie stretched her arms and twirled the celestial bronze long sword in her hand. It was a specialty weapon made by yours truly two years ago. There were a few nicks in the blade as it quickly became Natalie’s weapon of choice. It even followed her into the Battle of Manhattan. She had done her part to save Camp Half-Blood with this thing. It didn’t hit Natalie until just now that she had never given the sword a name. Everyone else seemed to have names for their weapons. It was a ritual that didn’t fully make sense to Nat, but standing there in the arena right after breakfast she decided she would go with the rest of society.

Mars. Cliché and fitting all at the same time. Natalie enjoyed it. She took, Mars, and stuck it in the ground blade first. Stretching her arms above her head trying to work the remainder of sleep from her bones. Her training schedule for today was set. She would practice with her sword for an hour and a half, then move over to the archery range for an hour, and break for lunch and then head back to the arena to get in some time for spear and dagger training. Natalie pulled her long dark hair back into a messy ponytail. Giving her knuckles another crack she bent down and lifted her water bottle taking a quick swig. Fire lit her eyes as she wrapped her hand around the hilt of Mars.

Training with the rest of Camp had gotten old by now and Natalie was able to take on pretty much anyone she came up against. The only ones who proved to be anything of a challenge were her siblings and even then Natalie had lived with them for so long that she knew their weak points. Yup. Training alone was just as effective. Natalie was able to get the feel of the weapon in her hand and she didn’t have to worry about killing the dummy soldier. What made it better was that Natalie was able to listen to music while she trained and while everyone else was off doing other less productive activities.

Her fingers pressed play on her ipod. Hot n’ Cold. Skip. Poker Face. Skip. California Gurls. There we go. She turned the volume up so the beat blared through her ear buds. She had come from California herself, then again Natalie hated being reminded of her past before Camp Half- Blood. Natalie rolled her shoulders and began her training. Her moves were fast and skillful. The way she handled the blade was masterful, but that was to be expected for a daughter of Ares. Weapons were bread and butter to kids of Ares. Natalie licked her lip, her eyes narrowing in concentration. She let out war cries each time she struck at the dummy.

WORD COUNT''477

[blindinglight]

Luna rolled the sword in her hand over. She'd owned it for years, but it felt strange, even foreign, in her hand lately. Luna didn't know why, but she knew she didn't like it. She sat by the Arena and just thought. The only other time her sword felt weird was when it was in necklace form and started to feel like it was burning her. It went to the point where she had to yank the thing off once she was alone. just to find it's name that was carved into the side, Flame , had grown brighter, like fire.

Without thinking, Luna walked into the Arena in complete battle armor. She night as well had done something using her sword, maybe it would feel better in her hands if she did. A habit many campers had was listening to there Ipod while they practiced, and Luna always blasted hers when she did. It was hooked onto the hip of her jeans. Luna turned it on with one hand, something she had been doing for years now, and let the first song blast. The one that started to play Luna had considered her theme song for the longest time. It was Whatsername by Greenday. She didn't know why, but she loved it before she even heard it more then once.

Looking around, Luna didn't see anyone at first. So she had let her mind wonder a bit. Nothing important this time really, but it took her a few minutes to start thinking straight again. That was a major issue she had. When she started daydreaming it could be hard to get out of it. It has seemed worse lately. Recently Luna had cut her a bit in the Forge with a sharp tool. Not to serious an injury, but it definitely hurt alot. But, no reason to worry about that now, tough Luna took a minute to giggle at what happen down at the Forge though.

Taking a second look, Luna saw a girl in the distance, perhaps a good opponent? She moved closer and saw that her moves were skillful, elegant even. This girl looked vaguely familiar to her, though Luna could not think of a name. She'd seen her a few times but that was it.Luna wanted to spar with her,though she didn't want risk getting hit with a sword. She thought about it, and decided to rusk it."Hello!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

Word Count: 420

[Natalie Ramsey]

Natalie took a minute to breath after the first handful of songs. She pressed paused on the ipod and let the sword hang loose in her hand. She drew in a deep breath and let it out. Bending down and grabbing her water Natalie thought of the possibility of going into the forest to try her luck. She had only been in there during capture the flag. Natalie may have been bold and just a touch full of herself but she wasn’t completely suicidal.

Going into the woods alone was like signing your own death certificate. Though she could not deny the temptation to try. Some demigods came out of there fully alive and unscratched. But then her mind wandered to that kid, what was his name, Blane, Blaise, Blake. His name was Blake. Natalie couldn’t remember who he was the son of, but it didn’t matter the kid was dead. It disturbed her more than she should have allowed.

She glanced down for a second and picked at the black polish on her nails, an old nervous habit. The polish was already chipped, a few weeks old at least; she would re do them at some point when she got around to it. Natalie didn’t own nail polish remover. It smelled funny and always gave her a headache. It was a partial reason why she picked it off herself. She rubbed the back of her neck to work out a kink and gripped the hilt of Mars tighter.

“Alright.” She muttered. Natalie pressed the play and another familiar song come blaring through the earbuds. Twirling the specially made sword in her hand twice Natalie made another swing of blows to the dummy. It had taken so much damage already she wondered how much more it could take. As she spun and struck the dummy across the shoulder Natalie had a burst of confidence and for a moment the idea of fighting a monster by herself in the forest was a fantastic idea.

A voice broke her confidence though. Natalie stumbled able to hear the hello above her music. She spun on the balls of her feet her temper flaring to the surface. Who in there right mind shouted at a person with a sword? Natalie stared at the girl, her eyes shot daggers. Ripping the earbuds from her ears and stopping the music Natalie regarded the demigod. She swung her sword so the flat of the blade rest on her shoulder.

“Hello!” Natalie called back in a mocking way. She snorted and looked the girl up and down. Her face was familiar and Natalie knew her to be from the Hephaestus cabin, but a name would not match up. Decked out in battle armor Natalie sized the daughter of Hephaestus up. She chewed her lower lip for a second.

“You have a lot of guts shouting at a person wielding a sharp weapon. Either bold and commendable, or foolish and laughable. I’ve seen you around camp.” Natalie said walking closer to the girl. “Hephaestus cabin, right?” She had some respect for those campers. They made good weapons and Natalie was a fan of a good deadly pointy object. Her lips twitched for a second and pulled into a smile. “I’m Natalie. You know how to use that thing, or do you just enjoy holding it?” She asked pointing to sword in the girls hand. It was a sort of challenge. Natalie wouldn’t mind a sparring partner, and a kid of Hephaestus would prove a bit of a challenge much more so than a kid of Aphrodite or even Hermes.

Boy, did kids of Hermes annoy her. Clever little kleptomaniacs didn’t know when to call it quits. She could murder Travis and Connor. One day during archery one of her arrows might slip and the two might find themselves on the wrong side of the arrow. Natalie brought her mind back to the demigod in front of her, rotten ADHD she never could keep her mind focus on anything for too long. Even during training her mind wandered to random places.

WORD COUNT''681

[blindinglight]

The song had changed now. It was Hero by Skillet. Now this was a song Luna had felt that it described all demi-gods, however different they may be. This is the song that got her into the band in the first place. Since she has, she's found that Skillet had more then one good song. Another favorite happened to be Monster by Skillet. She was so caught up in her thoughts of music that it took about an extra half a minute to realize the girl had replied to her insanity.

"Oh!" Luna giggled out. She didn't mean to upset her or throw her off balance, just to get her attention is what she wanted. "Sorry." The hello the girl returned was definitely sarcastic. Luna didn't want that, but then again she definitely looked like a Ares girl, so it seemed likely that something like that would be said. But Luna knew she had a likely chance of being sparring partners with her at least. That is what kept her good mood going.

The girl's next comment made her laugh, it was definitely a combination was foolishness and bravery. "Definitely a combo." she responded. Luna wasn't surprised about the girl seeing her around camp, that's pretty much the situation with everyone here. "Yeah Hephaestus, I guess you are an Ares?" Luna asked. "My name is Luna Knight. And you are?" She didn't know what is was, but Luna loved her name, she always had.

Oh! Luna could definitely tell she was an Ares kid, she basically screamed it. She was fairly good as guessing people's divine parentage if she talked to them a bit, but this was the first person she met that just screamed it. that interested her alot. "Four years of using this sword has taught me how to use this gift from Hephaestus himself. right." A gleam came into her eyes as she opened her mouth to speak again. "But that doesn't mean for a second that I do not enjoy holding it."

For the moment that was not strictly true. Flame still didn't feel right, Luna made a mental note to look up stuff about magical weapons suddenly feeling foreign in hands that have held them so often. In that moment she realized she would probably find nothing on the topic. Maybe one of her brothers would know something, or even Chiron maybe.

Word:408

[Natalie Ramsey]

Natalie tried to assess the girl further—scanning for any visible weak spots. The girl was petite which could have both positive and negative effects, Natalie should know. Being petite gave you the speed advantage and made you agile. However, it was likely that the muscle weren’t built up and when it came to brute force you would likely lose. Size and stature wasn’t everything though. Natalie was probably one of the smaller Ares kids but she was strong and wasn’t a force to be messed with. She didn’t resemble a tank like her siblings, i.e Clarisse.

She nodded and continued to smile, “Ares born and bred. Nice to meet you Luna.” That’s right, Natalie thought. The face linked up to the name perfectly. Natalie had heard the girl’s name around camp before only now though did she remember. She glanced over Luna’s sword again. “Four years?” She nodded in consideration. Natalie had her beat by two extra years but she wasn’t going to say that out loud. It would have come off snobby and a little too self-centered. Besides, Natalie knew it was dangerous to go into any battle over confident. That was a good way to get yourself killed.

She twirled her aptly named sword Mars in her hand and smiled at her reflection. She didn’t need to sound overconfident, her posture and movements said it all for her. “It looks like a nice sword.” I’d like to see what it looks like covered in dirt., Natalie added in her head. She turned her back on Luna and began walking about fifteen paces away from her. “You know, I was in the middle of practicing. I train a few hours outside the schedule sessions. I could use a sparring partner.”

Once she hit her mark Natalie spun on the balls of her feet and smirked mischievously at the daughter of Hephaestus. “That is, if you are up for it. Don’t feel like you have to. I mean, you just interrupted me in the middle of training.” Okay sure, Natalie was being kind of mean but it was the best way to mentally psych out your opponent by causing them to lose their focus.

WORD COUNT''365
NOTESBlah, my muse is so low for her.