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Post by connorwindkeeper on Apr 25, 2010 19:19:33 GMT -5
Connor chuckled heartly as her grip went from so super lose to super tight as he revved the engine, obviously she wasn't a fan of motercycles. It was understandable, most people weren't crazy about bikes especially his mom. They werent exactly the safest things in the world but they had been the one common ground him and his step father had. When his mother got remarried it was only natural that Connor had kinda hated the new man in the house, Connor had actually felt a little betrayed by the fact that his mother got remarried. Why shouldn't he his dad was never around when he was little, he kinda assumed that it would always be them against the world. Though as time changed and Connor grew older he soon understood that his mother needed someone to take care of her and that Connor unfortunatly wasn't always going to be there to do that. He sighed in his helmet the heat from his breath fogging up the visor. He wipped it off and pushed off from the ground revving the engine once more to get moving.
They zipped through the streets Connor reading them off in his head as he turned, stopped, sped up and slowed down acording to the traffic laws after a little while he slowed down onto the path she told him the safe house was on and pulled up to the small building. It wasn't anything perticular special but he supposed that for what they were going to do they didnt need to stay at a five star hotel. He stopped the bike putting down the kick stand and grinning, "Were here you can let go know." he pulled off his helmet his green eyes twinkling mischiviously. He knew that he probably shouldnt have teased her so much, she was only trying to help him or atleast thats what he thought but it was fun to watch her reactions to the gentle jibs he throw at her. She obviously wasn't use to this kinda joking, oh well whats the point of coming here if he couldn't have a little fun before she told him whatever she needed to tell him.
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Post by Annabeth Chase on Apr 25, 2010 21:16:12 GMT -5
Okay, so speeding along at highway speeds on a supped up bicycle that was noisy and didn’t have a seatbelt was not her idea of fun. Then again, there were a lot of things she’d done that hadn’t been her idea of fun. Didn’t mean she liked any of them though. So as a result she spent the entire ride clinging to him with her eyes as tightly shut as possible. She heard other cars… too many other cars, going way too fast, way too close. Even when it got quieter, she didn’t loosen her grip. Was this over yet? She was definitely ready for it to be over…
And then the engine noise died. Or had her ears given up the ghost? No, she heard his voice. Which only made her go a bright shade of red as she hurriedly let him go and fumbled to get off the bike and take her helmet off and setting it on the bike seat. “Right, right… sorry.” She pulled her hair up again to get it out of the way, pulling her jacket off and tying it around her waist, revealing the bright orange t-shirt underneath that read ‘Camp Half-Blood’ and had the silhouette of a pegasus on it. It hardly even fazed her anymore that this might seem an odd garment. “Hope you don’t mind walking. We have a bit of a hike.”
She shoved her Yankees hat back in her back jeans pocket and checked that her dagger was still secure and then set off toward the run-down house… and walked right past it into the thick woods beyond. The brush was thick and she had to push branches aside a number of times, pausing here and there to check a tree trunk or rock or some other odd landmark. “Almost…” she muttered to herself, or “At least no monsters have been near here recently…”
The East River came back into view in the distance when she finally stopped. “Here we are.” She grabbed hold of an otherwise unassuming heap of brush that looked just like all the other monotonous brush and garbage and, with a little difficulty, pulled it aside. When she dropped it at the side, it could finally be seen to be a woven circle of branches that some vines and weeds had tried to take root on. It was a door. Underneath was an opening into a shelter big enough for three people woven from plant material, though everything within was completely dry. It was stocked with normal camping stuff like sleeping bags, blankets, a lantern, even an ice chest; and also with not-so-normal, demigod stuff like spare weaponry (from a sword, to extra arrows), armor, and ambrosia. The place smelled like it hadn’t been aired out in a long while, but the fact was, it was still usable. Annabeth knelt down and went inside.
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Post by connorwindkeeper on Apr 27, 2010 18:27:17 GMT -5
Connor chuckled as she hastily got off the bike her face crimson with emberrasment. He shrugged his shoulders a stupid grin on his face as they took off, He didnt mind a little bit of a hike after being attacked by demon dogs this was nothing. He fell into step behind her the grin still plastered on his face as she muttered to herself randomly while trying to figure out where exactly this little hide out of hers was at.
"You know you get embarressed way to easily." he said after her muttering somthing about monsters not being around here. " You just met me and all i've been doing is tease you a little and your as red as an apple." he chuckled a little "I mean I know that im a pretty awsome guy and you love being around me and all but jeez this is way to much." he hopped that she caught on that he was still just teasing her and that he wasn't that full of himself but with Annabeth you just never knew.
They stopped abrubtly, the east river just coming back into view on the horizon. He looked around expectantly waiting to find some crazy tricked out hiding spot for "people like them" as she so elequantly put. He had no idea what people like them were, but he assumed that he would soon find out. "Ok so where is this..." he stopped mid sentence as she pulled at some weeds that when you looked at them seemed just like ordinary weeds but actually covered up a door leading into a room big enough to fit three people comfortably. The room was stalked with all the camping essentials and a few things that werent exactly on a hikers checklist. "Woah nice place." he said slightly impresssed. He crawled in after her and sat down, "Ok so now do I get to know whats going on?" he asked.
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Post by Annabeth Chase on Apr 27, 2010 23:45:52 GMT -5
Annabeth glared hard at him when he, in her opinion, ran his big fat mouth a little further than was necessary. Sure his tone was teasing, but still. “Keep dreaming.” She smiled slightly and shook her head, rolling her eyes and laughing to herself; hey, she could joke around too… even if most of Camp Half-Blood likely didn’t think that was possible.
She closed the shelter door all but a crack so there could be a little fresh air and found a comfortable, or as comfortable as dirt could be, place to sit to one side of the shelter area. “Glad you like it. Couple of friends and I made it years and years ago. Handy to have around sometimes. Now, down to the reason we’re here.” She picked up one of the arrows and ran her finger along the sharp tip, though not pressing hard enough to do any sort of damage. “Like we were talking about before. All that Greek mythology stuff, isn’t really mythology. You know, the word ‘immortal’ means just that. Immortal. Like, whether people believe in you or not. So as we speak, the Greek gods and goddess still live on just as they did centuries ago. They even come down to earth and walk among mortals like they used to too, just not really in the same way. They survive off of Western civilization, they move with it. All of that ‘mythological’ stuff does. At first it was Greece, then Rome, then on from there. Around a lot of Europe, and now here. Mount Olympus itself is at this very moment miles and miles above our heads. Literally. The Mist just hides it. That’s what keeps regular mortals from seeing things like those hell hounds. But you saw them because you can see through the Mist, because you’re not a regular mortal. The ADHD, dyslexia, and especially the fact that that ambrosia didn’t kill you are enough to prove that.
“You see, just like in the old time, the gods sometimes have children with mortals. Like, half-god, half-mortal. Demigods. Or half-bloods. Like myself for instance. My dad is a professor of military history in San Francisco. But my mom is Athena, the goddess of wisdom, battle strategy, and useful arts. I’m a demigod. And so are you.” It was a lot to take in, she knew. She’d helped countless others adjust over her eleven years - gods, had it been that long? - at Camp. So she fell silent and patiently let him take it in on his own.
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Post by connorwindkeeper on May 2, 2010 17:38:01 GMT -5
As she began explaining the extensive list of how this whole god thing worked his eyes get ever more so disbeleiving. None of this could be real, him a demi-god, those were all stories people from ancient times told to explain why the sky was blue or why a tornado blew through there village and destroyed it. "My mom is a waitress from San Deigo and my dad was some no good drunk who hasn't been around since they conceived me. I find it hard to beleive that he's actually some ancient god and im his half god son or whatever."
He took a deep breath looking at all of the random battle equipment laying around here. They werent ancient but there use in war was. No one had used bow and arrows or spears since the middle ages, and here were some perfectly good weapons sitting on the floor. "Why do you have all these old school weapons here, wouldn't guns be more effective against hellhounds?" the question came out more harshly then he had meant so he appolgized "Sorry I dont mean to sound rude but i mean think about it, Ancient greek gods running around crazy monsters that some mist hides from the general public, It sounds a little far fetched." He shrugged his shoulders "Oh and if we were children of gods wouldnt we be I dont know perfect? I mean you come pretty close thats obvious but i mean come on ADHD and Dyslexia arn't exactly things a god would want to have in there kids." he said shrugging his shoulders at her.
He leaned back against one of the walls picking up a spear and looked at it, the balance was way off, it would be impossible to throw effectively. He turned it around to look at the head, " Shady craftsmenship this is. The spear head is to heavy and the iron work is all wrong, A monkey could have done this better with his eyes missing." he said, then his eyes narrowed. Why did he know all that, ha had taken a few workshop classes in school but never anything to the extent of making medevil spears. "Woah that was really weird." he said.
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Post by Annabeth Chase on May 2, 2010 18:57:58 GMT -5
Annabeth had more or less expected this. Not that she had been looking forward to it, but hey, who would? “Well, if it means anything, I didn’t even get to see my mother until I was ten. It’s very unusual for demigods to actually know their immortal parent. The gods have a lot of other things to worry about, after all.” She slid the arrow back into the quiver she’d pulled it from and watched Connor look over all the weaponry. “No, guns wouldn’t work. Just make them mad,” she answered his question, then paused. Well, it wasn’t entirely true. She’d seen her dad shoot down some pretty bad monsters with a machine gun… using celestial bronze bullets though. “Well, not entirely. I should say, regular lead bullets don’t work. It takes celestial bronze.”
She took her dagger out so he could see the polished bronze blade; she always kept it in mint condition just as she had her previous one, so it gleamed even in the low light and the edges were sharpened meticulously. Annabeth paused, taking the corner of her camp t-shirt and wiping off a little smear she must have missed when they’d been hurrying out (though she had at least been sure to clear the hellhound dust off it). “But yeah, I understand what you mean. It does sound far-fetched. I promise it’s true though. And no one’s perfect, not even the gods. Definitely not demigods. The ADHD and dyslexia… well, the ADHD is battle reflexes. It’s what keeps demigods alive. And the dyslexia is because your mind isn’t meant for English. It’s meant for Ancient Greek.”
She fished around in the supplies until she found what she’d been looking for: a hand-drawn map of New York City. Except that the labels (just main streets and important building and spots) were in Greek. Annabeth offered it to him. “There, see if any of that makes better sense than some of those English books.” She stopped short though, when she noticed that he was already studying something: a spear, to be specific. “Yes well, we didn’t exactly have access to a forge-… oh my gods… Wait, wait, wait… how do you know that?”
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Post by connorwindkeeper on May 2, 2010 19:33:45 GMT -5
Connor Shook his head, "Ya sorry but no it doesnt really make me feel better. Im sixteen and he hasn't shown up once, regardless of if any of this is real Im sure he could spare to take ten minutes out of his day to come say hey Happy Birthday, or hey that was a great game or somthing." He took a deep breath controling his anger. No need to verbally assault someone who was just trying to help, even if she was a bit batty thinking all of this stuff was real. "Besides why wouldnt my mom let me know my dad was a god?"
When she mentioned Celestial bronze, he perked up. He knew what that was although he had never heard the words before in his life. "Celestial bronze? It seems so familiar yet I dont know why? He looked at the knife Annabeth showed him and suddenly his eyes changed colors to a bright silver. He felt like his body was almost xraying the weapon she held out before him. "Pure Celestial bronze blade, amazing metalwork, this dagger could withstand alot of force. The hilt is made from forty-seven percent iron and fifty-three percent stainless steel." Just as quickly as the the sudden change occured his eyes returned back to the normal dark green.
He closed his eyes suddenly feeling very tired, "Woah my head is pounding." he said rubbing his temples. He took the map she held out for him and glanced over it, He could read all of the words perfectly. The letters werent switching themselves like they normally did, "Woah i can read this." he said sitting up smiling. "No trouble at all." He completely forgot about what he said about the spear and was confused about the question she just asked him. "How did I know what? Oh you mean the spear? I dont know I just kinda knew. Hm you must really be bad at making weapons if i can tell they stink." he said smiling.
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Post by Annabeth Chase on May 2, 2010 20:11:37 GMT -5
Annabeth shrugged slightly. “It’s safer not to know. That’s probably why she didn’t tell you. It’s not safe for demigods out in the open. At least, not when they know what they are. As long as a demigod is ignorant, their scent is masked. But as soon as they know, it gets stronger. That’s probably one reason those hell hounds found us. Because I already know, so they could smell me out easy. And now that you know two, we have to get to Camp Half-Blood all the faster. The border protects from monsters like those hell hounds. So you see, your mom was protecting you. Don’t be mad at her for it.”
And then Connor spoke again, transfixed by her dagger. She stared at him, completely dumbfounded, as he rattled off all the specs of the dagger she’d made two years ago after Manhattan. This was unreal. He was certainly a demigod. And she was starting to get an inkling of his parentage. “Wait a minute…” She got up and looked through the stock. “I know there has to be some here somewhere… Aha!” She pulled out some tiny metal pieces that looked more like they could have been part of a watch, along with some bigger metal pieces. All of them celestial bronze. They were spare parts to help fix random things that might break, though they’d never been used. “Here.” She offered them to him. The way he was going on about the craftsmanship of the other various things, she wondered how well he could do building stuff too. If he was what she was starting to think he was…
((OOC: Argh! So short! I'm sorry!))
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Post by connorwindkeeper on May 2, 2010 20:42:11 GMT -5
Connor rubbed his temples his eyes tightly shut, he didnt know why he was so tired all of a sudden. He had gotten a good nights rest last night, but now he was exhausted. He felt like he had blacked out for a moment and that was what caused his fatigue and what felt like little dwarves pounding on anvils in his head. He almost missed what Annabeth had sayed about his mother and camp. "Ya sure whatever.... wait there's a whole camp filled with people like us?" This was starting to get a little to real, a whole camp filled with people who beleived there parentage was that of ancient greek gods? It was starting to get harder to doubt what Annabeth was telling him. Maybe he was a little crazy too.
He took a deep breath trying to clear his swimming head before he spoke. "Ok I beleive you how do we....." he stopped short as Annabeth started rummaging through the junk that was in the safe house "Annabeth what are you doing?" he asked then she threw some bits of metal at him. "This is all celestial bronze, well except for that one piece has a bit of nickle on the once side...." Then it dawned on him, she wanted him to make something with this stuff. He played around a little bit with it all then took a hammer that was sitting on a small table. He hit the metal experimantally, "Hmmmm" he looked over it and got to work. Fifteen minutes later and a small celestial bronze bird sat in his hands. " Sorry I didnt have enough parts to make it move or anything like that." he said handing it over to her, he noticed a news paper that looked several days old and picked it up. His eyes widdend as he saw the date.... "Ah Annabeth, Whats the date today?" he asked
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Post by Annabeth Chase on May 5, 2010 0:28:14 GMT -5
Annabeth watched him a little hesitantly. “Are you alright? Maybe we should stay here a while so you can rest a little…?” He seemed sort of half out-of-it, though his question at least affirmed that he’d heard part of what she’d said. “Yes, Camp Half-Blood. Several hundred half-bloods the last time there was a count, but it keeps growing, so Olympus only knows these days.” She stopped there; she could have gone on for ages about Camp Half-Blood, considering it was her only home for five years, and then her home during the summer for the following six. Instead, she watched in silent fascination as he set to work on the metal.
It hardly seemed any time at all before he’d crafted a beautiful little bird out of the chunks of metal. “Connor… that’s amazing… The detail… it’s beautiful…” Well, she was pretty sure she knew who his dad was after that impressive display. She wasn’t about to say anything though. She’d wait and see when the god decided to claim his son. After all, after the promise Percy had bound them all into, it had to be sooner or later, right?
Annabeth was examining the delicate-looking bird, though almost afraid to touch it even, when Connor spoke again. She looked up from where she was leaned over, straightening up. “What? Oh, it’s June 5th. 2010. Why? Did you have something you needed to get to?” Though now that he knew what he was, and that certain monsters in the area knew what he was, she wasn’t so sure going off to some appointment was still an option.
((OOC: Oh my gods, I am so sorry!!! For some reason, I didn't get the email notification that there was a reply and the new thread here hid it. I am SO sorry for the delay!!!))
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Post by connorwindkeeper on May 5, 2010 21:02:37 GMT -5
Connor shook his head trying to clear his mind. "Ya I'm fine I just suddenly got really tired. Guess I didn't get as much sleep as i thought I did." he closed his eyes and stifled a yawn, who would have thought listing off the properties of a knife would be so tiring? And why did even know those properties to begin with? His eyes widened when she said there were several hundred half bloods at camp, that was ridiculous!! He assumed that demigods were a rare commodity, a couple hundred wasn't a very small number.
He shrugged his shoulders when she commented on the bronze bird he handed to her. "Its really not the big of a deal....to be honest i don't really know how I made that exactly." He stared at it for a few seconds pondering. "Besides a couple of shop classes I took I've never really worked with metal, celestial or otherwise. I don't suppose there's a metal god or something is there?" he asked smiling hopefully, maybe Annabeth could help him figure out who is father was seeing as she knew all this stuff about the gods and all.
Connor eyes darted between Annabeth and the newspaper he grew pale. The newspaper was only a couple of days older then the date Annabeth had given him, That couldn't be possible they left California in 2008 he had been only seventeen at the time. "Please tell me your kidding....about this one little thing tell me its 2008 please." he begged her.
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Post by Annabeth Chase on May 5, 2010 21:42:22 GMT -5
Annabeth paused at his question. A god of metal… well… yes. And that happened to be exactly who she was suspecting at the moment. She hadn’t wanted to say anything, but he was sort of putting her in an odd spot. “Yes, there is such a god. His name is Hephaestus. He is the god of metals and metallurgy, as well as fire, volcanoes, technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, and sculptors.” She stopped at that though. She didn’t want to tell him too much. She’d wait until there was sign that he was claimed. Like, officially claimed. Because all this building stuff out of random chunks of metal seemed a pretty good piece of proof to her.
She watched him with a little uncertainty as he looked between her and the newspaper and, more or less, got about as pale as the paper the news was printed on. She opened her mouth to say something, but he beat her to it. “I’m not kidding. It’s 2010. And quite honestly, thank the gods it is. 2008 wasn’t exactly a good year to be a half-blood around here. Or at all…. Are you feeling alright? Maybe you should lay down…” she reached for the slightly more normal camping supplies and pulled a pillow over, offering it to him. “If I may, why do you want it to be 2008?” It seemed like a pretty random year, at least for someone who had only just found out they were a demigod. For someone who’d known they were a demigod longer, 2008 would likely be the last year anyone would want to repeat…
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Post by connorwindkeeper on May 6, 2010 21:44:24 GMT -5
Connor couldn't beleive what his ears were hearing, his brain tried to process how he had somehow skipped two years of his life. Who is godly parent and camp Half-Blood was no longer important to him now, He took the pillow Annabeth offered him shakily. "It can't be, none of this can be real." he kept muttering to himself slightly hysterical. This was all just to much and his brain, not being able to catch up with all this new info, was begaining to shut down. He burried his head in his the pillow trying to calm himself, or at the very least try and figure out a rational explanation for all of this.
After a few minutes of silence his breathing back to slow down, and a little bit of color began to crawl back into his face. He looked up at Annabeth, who probably thought he was crazy, and gave her a hollow smile. "Is it possible to grow two years older in your little mythology world and not know about it?" he asked his voice shaky. "Because according to you and this newspaper i just missed two years of my life, yet I dont know where those two years went." He gave a shaky laugh "And i've never heard of anyone just skipping out on two years without knowing it went by." He looked at her intently hoping she had an explaination.
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Post by Annabeth Chase on May 10, 2010 20:42:26 GMT -5
Annabeth watched him, growing more and more worried. He looked like he could pass out from shock or something, though she’d yet to figure out why. “Hey, hey… calm down, Connor.” Okay, major fail at not overloading him… Though, oddly enough it was the year that had thrown him off most. Like he hadn’t even looked at a calendar since 2008… Wait…
Her thoughts were interrupted when he looked back up at her and spoke again, still shaky and sounding like he could have a (or another) nervous breakdown any time. “You missed two years of your life? But-… I’ve only ever heard of that happening-… but how…?” Her voice trailed off, more thinking aloud than anything. If what had happened was what she thought it was, then how had he escaped by himself? Or had he been by himself? “Yes…” she finally said, a little shakily herself. “There is such a thing. A place in Las Vegas, disguised as the Lotus Hotel and Casino. It’s a sort of trap that enslaves the minds of those that go inside so they never want to leave. They never age and don’t notice time passing either. But… if you were there… how did you get out? You would have had to have broken the place’s hold on you, which is very difficult.” She knew that one from experienced, having visited that very place six years ago with Percy and Grover on their first mission.
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