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Post by Annabeth Chase on Apr 18, 2010 22:23:25 GMT -5
Annabeth had just been to Olympus to check on the construction project, which was finally nearing completion. After all this time, she could still hardly believe that her mom had put her in charge of the job. It was a dream come true. And just getting to go see her mom whenever she went to oversee things was amazing! Though she could tell her mom knew full well what was going on with Percy and was not terribly pleased; thankfully she never mentioned that one though. But now it was time to head back to Camp Half-Blood, and maybe take a short pit stop on the way. There was a landmark in the city she absolutely had to see. It was just some common building that she’d noticed during the battle with Kronos’ army, but it had been so beautiful! And the truth is, one can’t really appreciate the architecture when one is fighting for their and their friends’ lives. But now she intended to see it, and spend some actual quality time looking at it.
And that was why Annabeth was standing just at the steps of a rather ornate building belonging to some rather dull business in downtown New York. It was such an old building, made to have a sort of Greek-inspired look, like many of the high-end buildings, though this one seemed to have suffered a bit of… well, lack of caring-for. And it looked like the battle with Kronos might have done a little damage too. Such a shame! It looked like it had been a beautiful building once.
Annabeth pulled her jacket a little tighter over her Camp Half-Blood shirt, making sure it was buttoned up to cover the lettering, as a breeze blew through the mostly-empty street, whipping at her ponytail as though trying to pull as many strands of her hair lose as possible. This street was one of the few places in Manhattan that seemed to be nearly deserted, which was odd and all, but she didn’t let it bother her. After all, gangs or the like was nothing to a demigod. She walked up the last step to the front of the building and ran her fingers over the curling stone carvings of the façade. It was just stunning. Sure, she’d seen a ton of architecture in her life, but she never got tired of being around it.
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Post by connorwindkeeper on Apr 19, 2010 14:34:14 GMT -5
Connor had been zipping through Manhattan for what seemed like hours. He had gotten to New York yesterday after having ridden for about a week with hardly any stops, He had only been in the Lotus for a couple of hours but yet when he had finally gotten out his family was know were to be seen. Then to top of the strange o meter some weird dude wearing all black had told him that if he ever wanted to see them again he would have to travel to New York, then he disappeared. It was kinda creeped Connor out seeing as he was heading to New York with his family anyway. His mom was the one who brought up the family vacation to New York in the first place, Sure they would go up to L.A or disney world once and awhile but travel cross country was a bit strange to do all of a sudden.
The dark green Suzuki GS500 roared as he went to a side street where a bunch of old dusty looking buildings were at. He assumed that he would meet the mysterious man at some major landmark and the Empire State building was his first stop. As he rolled down the road he noticed that a girl around his age was standing and staring at one of the older buildings. It was built in such a style that you would picture someone like that ancient greek god Zeus to live in. He figured he might as well ask her how to get to where he needed to be instead of just drive around aimlessly so he pulled over at the side of the road and parked. There were no parking meters around here so he didnt have to worry about paying or being towed. He walked up the marble steps that led up to the doors and the girl and tapped her shoulder. "Excuse me, im not from around here, could you tell me how to get to the Empire State Building?"
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Post by Annabeth Chase on Apr 19, 2010 16:13:40 GMT -5
Generally a car pulling up and stopping in an otherwise empty street was a bad sign. It was for this reason that Annabeth’s hand slid ever so slightly to where she could feel her dagger resting in its sheath at her side. She didn’t draw it, but it was good to know it was there. It wasn’t the same dagger that she had used pretty much all her life, that Luke had given her so long ago. No, after that one had finished its purpose she had been rather loathe to take it back up, so it had moved to the attic of the Big House. This one was nothing more than a replica of that old weapon, but hey, if it did the job. She heard the car door close behind her, though kept her attention focused ahead. She was anything but looking at the stonework anymore though; she was listening closely for any signs of trouble.
And then she felt someone tap her on the shoulder and turned to find herself facing a rather worn looking boy who seemed to be about her age but considerably taller. And asking about the Empire State Building. She had to smile; yeah, one could say she knew where it was - a lot of demigods could get there with their eyes closed. “Yeah, sure. From here all you really have to do is go two streets over that way and-” She stopped short, her arm still out where she had been pointing the direction out for him. Something had moved in the shadows. Something big and very unpleasant-looking, and she had a sneaking suspicion it was not something this mortal boy would want to be around to meet. She hurried to finish her directions. “If you make a left, the next intersection you come to is 34th Street. Turn right and follow 34th. It’s at the corner of Fifth Ave and West 34th. Can’t miss it.”
She sincerely hoped he didn’t notice how uneasy she was and instead got on his way. There were more shadows moving by the minute. This was not going to be any place for a mortal to be stuck in any minute now. If he would just get in his car and get out of here before anything serious could happen. And maybe she could still get away from the majority of whatever was gathering here too…
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Post by connorwindkeeper on Apr 19, 2010 20:31:01 GMT -5
When the girl turned around Connor had to admit, he was slightly taken aback. The girl was really cute, and not like baby sister cute like woah where have you been all my life kind of cute. He had his his mouth ajar for a few seconds before realizing that that probably wasnt the coolest thing to do. He closed his mouth quickly and instantly fell back in to cool guy mood, the initial shock had thrown him off guard, he never would have imagined girls that looked like that would live in New York.
I suppose it would make sense cuz of all the shopping
Connor thought as she started explaining how to get to the Empire State Building. Crap he had missed the first half of her directions, He was about to ask her if she could repeat herself but then he saw her tense. He gave her a quizicall look and looked over his shoulders, as soon as he did this he wished he hadn't. From the shadows came four black rotweilers, but not normal run of the mill rotweilers, these were rotweilers that had shot up on a whole bunch of steriods. They each were about the size of a grizzly and they didnt really look like they wanted to play. Great my first time in New York and I'm going to get mauled to death my mutant strays. He turned around to face the dogs getting infront of the girl, he wasnt try to be macho or anything he just assumed he would have a better chance taking on the dogs then she did. "Ya I dont know what you guys feed your pets but back in San Deigo we keep our animals managable sizes." He said trying to add humor to the situation.
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Post by Annabeth Chase on Apr 19, 2010 20:57:16 GMT -5
Shoot. Hell hounds. In a New York City alleyway. Lovely. “Second thought, you might want to get ins-” She stopped short, just realizing what he was saying. “You can see them?” Okay, so he was either one of the few clear-sighted mortals, or… Well, now wasn’t the best time to think on that. He obviously didn’t know what they were, judging by his tone, so if he was a demigod, he wasn’t a trained one. This complicated things a bit. She pulled out her celestial bronze dagger. “Stay behind me.” That is, unless the blasted things shadow-travelled… there were certainly enough shadows to use!
Gritting her teeth, she launched herself at the nearest hell hound, swiping her dagger at it. The bad thing, or one of many to be honest, about hell hounds is they are fast. And this one happened to see the attack coming. It moved to the side and bit at her, missing her arm by an inch. She twisted and drove her dagger into its open flank. Not even a moment later, the beast was gone, and Annabeth had a fine coating of dust on her jacket here and there where the wind had blown the last remains of the creature at her. Unfortunately, she now also had the attention of two more of the enormous dogs, who didn’t seem to like the celestial bronze, and weren’t particularly fond of losing their friend to the walking and talking kibbles and bits.
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Post by connorwindkeeper on Apr 19, 2010 21:20:32 GMT -5
Confusion spread out even more when she had asked if he could see them. "See them? Are you trying to tell me that people miss them?!?!" Just the question in itself seem really silly of course he could seem them they were four mammoth sized dogs that looked like they were about to use the two of them as chew toys. He noticted a slightly rusted piece of metal pipe sitting on one of the steps he scopped it up just as the girl ran past him with a small dagger in one hand. She cant be serious, whats the little thing going to do against those guys? Soon his question was answered however, the swartznagger dog dogged the first swipe of the dagger and bit in her direction, She quickly outmanuovered the dog and buried the dagger in its flank. Instead of the dog yelping in pain and ripping her to shreds it blew up into a cloud of smoke. Connor was confused, dogs didnt just blow up when you stabbed them they just got angrier.
His ponderings over how she had managed to turn the dog beast into a party cracker one of the other dogs howled loudly, so loudly infact it was a wonder that the windows within a 3 mile radius all didnt just shatter. It came pounding after him its paws making loud thumps as it drew near, Connor hefted up the pipe and waited. The dog lunged and Connor sidestepped and brought the pipe down making a sickning but statisfying crack against the animals skull. While he hit it upside the head he kicked upwards into the beasts stomach which made it to a front flip up the steps landing on its back. The animal didnt move but it didnt disapear with a puff of smoke like the first one did. No time to worry about that the other two dogs were closing in on the girl "Hey butt sniffers, why dont you pick on someone your own size!!" Connor yelled. Unfortunatly only one of the two took the bait turning around yellow teeth bared drool dripping from its jaws. He launched itself at him and just before it hit him he rolled underneath it, claws raked across his chest and he felt a burst of pain erupt. He jammed the pipe in the animals stomach and it yelpped in pain running into a nearby shadow and vanishing.
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Post by Annabeth Chase on Apr 19, 2010 22:12:31 GMT -5
Annabeth was about to attack one of the other next two when she saw movement out of the corner of her eyes: the third was headed for the other boy. Oh great. Her mind was going a mile a minute trying to think up a decent plan to get them both out alive when, completely unexpected, he more or less beat the snot out of the hell hound with an insanely heavy-looking piece of metal pipe. Normal mortal person stuff, right? And the fact that the hound didn’t move at all after he’d pretty much beat its head in was a feat in itself.
She was jarred from watching him, with quite some degree of awe, when one of the hell hounds that had taken an unhealthy interest in her took a decent bite out of her jacket sleeve, leaving a nice long tear in her arm as well, though thankfully not that deep. She took the butt of her dagger and jammed it between the animal’s eyes. When she turned to face the other animal though, it was gone. In the confusion, she hadn’t heard Connor yell at the dogs. But she did see him now. And it was hard to miss that he was injured. Not good. She hurried to jab her dagger between the eyes of the still-dazed dog near her, then was about to run and help him when she stopped again. The hell hound that had been about to tear him to shreds a second ago, was running for cover to the shadows with its enormous tail between its legs. Okay, this guy certainly wasn’t a mortal. Which meant one thing.
She ran to him, pausing on the way to finish off the hell hound on the steps (better dust than able to come back for an unpleasant surprise). Now that the life-or-death situation was taken care of, and there was the new surprise of him most likely being a demigod too, she looked at him in an entirely new light. Well, that and the alleyway did seem literally brighter now the hell hounds were gone. He really was handsome, however awkward she felt fro admitting it. At least Percy couldn’t read thoughts, though she wouldn’t be surprised if she’d blushed a tiny bit at the idea. How completely embarrassing! She hurried to pull a zip-lock bag of ambrosia out of her pocket and broke a piece off, offering it to him; it was both needed in the cure department, and in the hey-let’s-change-topic-before-I-say-something-I’ll-regret-later department. “Here, eat this. It will help.” She broke off a small piece for herself. “We need to get out of here. Do you think you’ll be able to walk?”
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Post by connorwindkeeper on Apr 20, 2010 20:24:17 GMT -5
After he had sent the gigantic dog packing he turned to see the girl run towards him. She had taken care of the other dog and was had just finished ramming her dagger in the one that now lay unconcious on the steps, after it burst into a puff of black smoke Connor realized how much pain he was really in. He plopped down on the steps breathing hard as blood seeped through the torn shirt that barely clung to his shaking form. It hurt to move, especially breath. He looked up to see the girl standing infront of him offering him a square pastry or somthing. He looked at her quizzically but accepted it all the same, she seemed to know about what had just attacked them, so he wasnt about to argue with her when she told him to eat it. He bit into the cake experimentally, he instantly felt a rush of relief sweep through his body as he tasted oreo's (his favorite sweet) "Mhmmm thats really good." he muttered dreamily as he shoved the rest of the cake into his mouth greedly.
He felt like he could take on twenty of those giant dogs now, he got up and looked down at his tatter shirt......the cuts weren't there anymore. Now he was really confusedm "Um ya i can walk, did you see those giant gashes on my chest just now or am i just imagining all of this? Ya thats gotta be it this is all some dream im having were i meet a pretty girl who beats the crap out of monster household pets for a living." he said trying to wrap his mind around everything that had just happened. "Hey since this is a dream and everything can i have another one of those cake things, it was really good and i might as well pig out while im sleeping." he said grinning his green eyes sparkling in the sunlight.
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Post by Annabeth Chase on Apr 20, 2010 20:49:14 GMT -5
He wasn’t in flames, so he definitely was a demigod. And definitely not a trained one, considering all the amazement at the ambrosia. “I’m afraid it’s not a dream. You did get hurt. But the ambrosia, that cake stuff, that healed it. Yes, I am real, and unfortunately so were those hell hounds. And sorry, you can’t have any more. Bit of a risk. But no time to explain. We have to get out of here in case that ‘household pet’ that got away comes back with friends.”
She gave him a small smile, feeling a little awkward at the compliment - she never expected compliments and didn’t really get them terribly often - but now was not the time give a darn about superficial stuff like that. She had found another half-blood, and from what she’d seen, there were no satyrs around here. So it was up to her to get him back to camp. And if anyone knew the value of time in such a procedure, it was her. “Come on, I know where they can’t get to.” She offered him her hand to help him up, simultaneously planning the best route back that would be fastest and hopefully the least monster-infested. There was one of her and Luke and Thalia’s old shelters along the way… maybe she could at least find him a new jacket or something there to make up for him losing his shirt. And getting him something better than a metal pipe might not hurt either.
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Post by connorwindkeeper on Apr 20, 2010 21:08:03 GMT -5
Connor rolled his eyes at her as she spoke about how this wasn't a dream, ya right this not a dream who was she trying to kid. "OK are you seriously trying to get me to believe that....what did you call them? Hell hounds roam around Manhattan and just attack random visitors? Its a wonder you guys get tourism around here." he smirked at his own joke, then something that she had said hit him finally. "Wait you said hell hounds? Thats greek mythology right, Like Cerberous or whatever?" he asked her his ADD going crazy, he was a pretty good student and all but all this new information being rammed into all skull this quickly was seriously starting to give him a headache. "And Ambrosia, thats another greek thing. Ambrosia and Nector was the food of the old greek gods." he then saw a flaw in her plan "But normal people, mortals, couldnt eat Ambrosia its like poison to us."
He shook his head this whole story getting kinda ridiculous "Am i being punked? "Is Ashton Kutcher in that building you were looking at or somthing?" Connor started looking around for the hint of some hidden camera recording him look like and idiot. He took her hand as she helped him up and shook his head smiling "Ok ok you got me, everyone can come out now he said speaking loudly waiting for everyone to jump out and yell suprise like they were at a birthday party. When it didnt come Connor narrowed his eyes, "What gives? why isn't anyone coming out? None of this could have been real, Hellhounds dont exsist." he said with an air of finality about it.
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Post by Annabeth Chase on Apr 20, 2010 22:30:51 GMT -5
Annabeth shook her head. She should have known. It was never easy to get new half-bloods accustomed to things. She let out a sigh and regarded him with her deep grey eyes. “They wander all over, not just Manhattan. And you’re no random visitor. Which is why we have to leave. We have to get somewhere safe. They likely won’t leave us alone as easy as that.” She started working at brushing the dust off her jacket and letting her hair down - it was falling out of the ponytail anyway - to try and readjust it.
She looked back to him, her hair tie held between her teeth. Letting go of her hair, she took the hair tie out of her mouth. She glanced around to make sure they were alone and spoke in a soft voice. “Yes, those were Hell Hounds. From the Underworld, like where Hades is. And yes, that was ambrosia, like the same stuff the gods eat. And it’s not so much poison as it would just burn you alive. But there’s a reason it didn’t. But for now, we need to at least get to the safe house, alright? This place isn’t safe. Nor is it a good place to talk.”
Annabeth stopped short when he started acting like it was a trick. “Ashton Kutcher? Who’s that?” Okay, so she didn’t really do much watching television. She was more of a book person. Either that or, during the school year, she’d also spend a lot of time sitting with her dad in his study and discuss various historic battle strategies (sometimes with the use of little models and toy soldiers). “Listen, this isn’t a joke.” She took a deep breath. “Okay, listen… I know this isn’t easy. Let me guess… Dyslexia? Probably ADHD too. And difficulty staying in the same school, that’s pretty common. Any of those ringing a bell?”
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Post by connorwindkeeper on Apr 22, 2010 14:11:11 GMT -5
OOC: Sorry about yesterday i had to work
Connor watched her play with her hair for a few moments standing there patiently as she fixed it. She seemed to think that this was all real, Hellhounds? Those were just old myths and stories. The same for the Greek gods and Ambrosia. Come on he had watched the disney version of Hercules and he had from time to time read up on some of the cooler myths. Achillies was by far his favorite Hero, and he didnt mine reading about the Trojan horse. He rubbed his eyes wearly, this was just so much to try and processes it just couldnt be real....could it? Those hellhounds seemed real enough, he had certainly felt those claws rake across his chest.
He sighed deciding he would entertain her atleast untill he could figure out all this stuff and try and pin a logical explanation to it all. Then she hit him with somthing she shouldn't have known "How do you know about all that?" he asked as she listed off everything that was wrong with him, he was a horrible reader because of his dyslexia and could hardly stay seated in school because of his ADHD, it was why he played sports. This was getting freakier by the second and he decided that he needed to get her to this safe house of her's and start explaining all of this stuff. "Alright i'll bite lets get to the safe house." he said motioning to his bike. "you might as well let your hair stay down ponytails dont really work on motercycles." he said with a grin as he walked over to it. He swung his leg over and put the key into the ignition,after reving the engine a couple of times he looked over spare helmet in his hand and grinned "You coming or what?" he asked.
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Post by Annabeth Chase on Apr 22, 2010 21:43:56 GMT -5
Annabeth couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. It was never easy for people to be thrown into all of this; she’d seen that enough times. “I know because that’s normal. At least, for… people like us. I know it sounds weird. But trust me.” She knew that was probably a stretch: sure, you just got attacked by gigantic dogs, healed by some weird pastry, and now here I am telling you all those ancient mythology books are actually ancient history books and telling you random facts about yourself that most random strangers wouldn’t know. But hey, you can trust me! I’m just your average run-of-the-mill crazy person. Yeah, that was normal alright. But years of helping Chiron introduce new half-bloods to all this weirdness made it at least a little easier. A little.
She smiled slightly when he agreed to come along with her, glad he was done being stubborn, at least in that particular respect. She finished haphazardously pulling her hair back and flinging it over her shoulder and out of the way, not really caring what it looked like. They had a long way ahead of them before the nearest little safe house, her ADHD kicking in so she was too busy planning a good route and didn’t hear his comment. “My name’s Annabeth, by the way. Annabeth Chase. If I haven’t freaked you out too bad yet, mind if I know yours?”
She paused when he held out the motorcycle helmet. She’d never ridden a motorcycle before… Then again, next to all the other weird stuff (dragons, hippocampi, pegasi, not to mention piloting a helicopter (had her dad been proud or what when he heard about that!)… the usual assortment) she’d dealt with, how hard could it be? And he’d be the one driving it anyway. “Oh…okay…” She walked over and took the helmet from him, pulled out her ponytail, twisted the hair tie around her wrist, and put the helmet on. It wasn’t that far off one of the helmets they used for sword fighting really. See, not that bad at all. Pulling her Yankees cap from her back jeans pocket and tucking it as tightly as she could into one of the larger buttoned pockets on the front of her jacket, she climbed on the bike behind him. It was a little surprising just how much taller he was, as she now noticed very pointedly. She also noticed… there was nothing to hold on to. Except him. Well, that was how she’d seen people riding motorcycles back home… So what if it was a little weird? Not like they had that far to go anyway. She put her arms around his waist. “Alright…”
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Post by connorwindkeeper on Apr 24, 2010 17:49:44 GMT -5
Connor frowned slightly at her comment.... people like us? What did she mean people like us? He was pretty sure he was for the most part atleast the same as everyone else and here the way she said those words made it seem like she thought they were some form of higher being or somthing weird like that. He shrugged assuming that all of his questions would eventually be brought into the light when they got to her so called safe house. He smiled when she asked for his name there was no doubt in his mind that he was totally freaked out, but now that the intial shock of being attacked by hellhounds had gone away he found that it was a bit easier to control his emotions. "Being freaked out is an understatment but i suppose it wouldnt hurt to know my name." He held out his hand to shake "Connor Windkeeper, native californian football, hockey, and lacrosse player at your service." he said a little smile played across his face.
He chuckled as she gingerly reached out to take the spare helmet from him. It was obvious that she wasn't accustomed to riding on the back of motorcylces....most girls werent. She didnt exactly fit the biker chick profile although that was usually a good thing, biker chicks could probably have kicked his butt. Although come to think about it, after watching her fight off those hell hounds he was kinda worried that maybe she could kick his butt to. He kicked up the kick stand and put on his own helmet but not before teasing her a little bit "You know you dont have to hold on so tight I wont let you fall off." he said winking before pulling his visor down. He was sure that underneath her helmet she had gotten a dark shade of red but he didnt mind, she was cute and around his age so why not tease her a little bit before she had to tell him all about the things that go bump in the night. "So miss Chase where are we off to?" he asked reving the engines several times.
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Post by Annabeth Chase on Apr 25, 2010 0:45:15 GMT -5
Annabeth smiled at him. “Well, Connor, it’s nice to meet you.” So he was from California too? He certainly was far from home. Then again, so was she. She was sorely tempted to ask him whereabouts in California he was from, but perhaps now was not the best time. And as for the list of sports, well, she should have guessed on that one. With the way he handled those hellhounds she was a little surprised the list wasn’t longer. Maybe baseball and wrestling as well or something. Either way, he certainly had the build for someone who could probably play any sport out there. Or fight monsters. Whichever came first.
She watched him pull on his helmet, though her mind was, as usual, not entirely focused, and wondered just how much experience he had with this thing. Hopefully a good deal. She’d heard enough stories of how dangerous these things were and wasn’t terribly interested in learning more about that first-hand. Her thoughts were broken when he spoke over his shoulder, teasing her. While she couldn’t be sure, it certainly felt like her face went awfully red. And the wink just made it all the worse. Oh, she so wanted to hit him! But then again, she had to get him back to Camp as soon as possible, and he was her ride, apparently… and after seeing what he’d done to the hell hounds, she wasn’t so sure hand-to-hand combat with him would be such a wise idea. She loosened her hold, though she automatically tightened it again when he revved the engine. All those horrible news stories involving motorcycles came back rather vividly. “Just head for the Williamsburg Bridge, south of here off Broadway. There’s a little road on the other side that, Millan, that doubles back to the shoreline. The shelter’s a little ways off that road.”
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