Call Me Crazy -Annabeth-

[zeus]

What the hell am I doing? That was the question on loop in his head as he stood at the entrance to Camp Half-Blood. Who in their right mind would willingly submit to this? Not that there was anything wrong with it. It was a good punishment for Dionysus and Chiron did a good job with the young heroes. Young, being the keyword. He was ancient and far from being a hero. More importantly he was a god and there was definitely no camp for that, especially for the king of the gods. Not that he would have minded a how to pamphlet a coupe hundred centuries back. Over throwing your father isn’t exactly the easiest task in the world. Fortunately, none of his children had attempted that. Yet, at least, he could imagine a few would be disgruntled enough to try something that ridiculous. Or maybe his brothers, they had every reason too.

Mention of his brothers made him break his train of thought. The conspiracy possibilities would have to take the back seat for a while. He was completely positive that his older brother was lurking around camp somewhere. Chances were it was to get near his fish sticks for brains son, but he couldn’t be sure. Either way the plan was kind of brilliant. Nobody knew it was him, he could get away with practically anything. Not that he couldn’t before, it was just that less people were aware now. This way he could find out what those waste of space twins were up to. He wasn’t really sure if the rumors were true, but there was no way he was going to sit around and wait to find out. At least not after last time. He’d never admit it, but his brother had been right and there was no way he would allow himself to be wrong again. Especially since it almost resulted in a catastrophic war on Olympus the first time between him and his brother.

He ran a hand through his hair. I actually have to go through with this. Less then happily he walked towards the camp, passing Thalia’s tree. He sighed, grateful to have her back and she was with Artemis. He liked that even better, she was safer that way. Caught up reminiscing he barely noticed the other person. In fact she didn’t even phase him until the pair collided. “Sorry,” he said rather softly. Despite popular belief he did have manners and he wasn’t completely terrible. Only mostly and usually he couldn’t help himself. One person to trust him, that’s what he figured, with at least one he could get as far as he needed to. If that one person happened to be the pretty, blue eyed daughter of Athena he had just ruin into. Then it hit him, exactly who she was. Suddenly this camp wasn’t looking so terrible after all. Not only could he get what he wanted out of it, but he could have fun while he did it. He smiled down at her, “I am Tyler.”

word count;; 510
tag;; Annabeth <3
intentions;; this will be fun

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[Annabeth Chase]

Annabeth had just had a lengthy chat with Chiron, which wasn’t that uncommon over the years really. The topic: the stirring trouble. When she’d reported after her quest - albeit a little late due to the drama with Percy - the news that Phobos had divulged his intentions, or at least the gist of them, was a sticking point. And now that she didn’t really hang around Percy, though more because of his new ability to disappear than her choice, she had more time to sit on her own and think or plan or discuss with Chiron. And things weren’t sounding good. It was becoming generalized opinion among those she talked to that the latest Great Prophecy was at hand. Wonderful. As if the last one wasn’t exciting enough.

The trouble with trying to come up with some form of strategy in a situation like this was that there were so many unknowns. How many were with Phobos, for example. Sure, he had tried to recruit Luke, but obviously that hadn’t worked. Was he looking for someone else? Would it come to the disappearances from Camp again? Would he attack Camp at all? If he had any brain, he would. With the pivotal part the demigods played in the last war, surely no one was underestimating them now? Especially since their numbers had doubled in the least. Another attack on Camp Half-Blood was not the most comforting thought. She sort of hoped that Phobos wasn’t very good at strategy, but it would be unwise to assume that was the case.

She was walking back to her cabin, or the lake, or somewhere, just wherever her legs ended up taking her, and completely lost in thought to the point that she didn’t notice anyone else. That was abruptly brought to an end when someone ran right into her. Well, that was certainly one way to be brought back to reality. And the fact that said someone was an older, taller, and not too bad-looking young man didn’t go entirely unnoticed. “No, I should have been paying more attention.” She returned his smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Tyler. I’m Annabeth. Are you new to Camp? I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.” Then again, with how many people were here, that wasn’t hugely surprising. He could have been here for weeks without her noticing anyway with having been on a quest and all.

Word Count: 403
Comments: Ooooh, yes. This should be interesting indeed. ;D

[zeus]

Hundred of possibilities shot through his head unbelievably quick. There was no way of knowing exactly what he could get from being friends with Annabeth Chase, but Tyler was completely willing to find out. After all, there were many perks of having her as that one person who trusts him. For one, she was a daughter of Athena, not one of his other idiot children like Ares or Dionysus. Athena actually had a brain and not just because she was the goddess of wisdom. The woman actually tried to keep things civil -unless it came to Poseidon- and Tyler was always grateful for that. But Annabeth was the topic at hand and his brain changed directions again.

This girl, as young as she was had accomplished quite a lot. The freshest in his mind of course was her helping to defeat Kronos, figuring out the prophecy and then, when all was said and done, rebuilding Olympus. She was an interesting sort of demi-god, one he believed that he could be persuaded to like. Most importantly though -more then Olympus and fighting Kironos- she had been a friend of Thalia. It was no secret that Tyler wasn’t the greatest father in the world but he did care about his children. He was just prevented from showing it, not that he ever really would. Thalia was his pride and joy of the era, like Perseus and Hercules. Thalia, even though she was stubborn like him, understood the importance of sacrifice and compromise. Two things he often dealt with. It was then that he decided anyone who could befriend his daughter and gain her trust -except of course anyone involving seaweed and betrayal- were good enough to be his friend. At least in this form, as demi-gods and gods couldn’t exactly be friends.

His rampant thinking stopped when she spoke to him. He needed to get his hyper active mind under control, that was much was clear. Mortals even demi-gods, didn’t have half the concerns he did so the task would be a trying one.“Don’t worry about it,” he said in reference to their collision. Normally he would probably zap somebody for something like this but that was no way to gain trust. That and only one person at camp should have had that ability. A son of Ares not being that person.

“The pleasure is all mine Annabeth,” and he actually meant it. It was hard getting to know heroes while preoccupied on Olympus. Especially when they were someone elses children, but now, who would know the difference. His eyes glittered with excitement at her next question. Tyler had thought ahead on this one, not wanting to make his sudden appearance at 21 too suspicious. Especially considering he was more powerful then the entire camp. “I spent a few years at the Roman camp. It took them a while to realize I didn’t belong there. They were reluctant to give me up, but I got out and now here I am.” Perhaps not the greatest back story, but he didn’t see her going to find out how true it was. Especially since they tried to keep Roman kids very far from the Greek ones.

word count;; 532
tag;; Annabeth <3
intentions;; the worst

[/center][/blockquote]

[Annabeth Chase]

Annabeth gave him a natural, not-forced smile - something that was a lot rarer since Percy went to the Jerk Side. He seemed like a pretty nice guy, and especially if he was new here, she wanted to make sure he felt welcome. That is until he mentioned the Roman camp. Her smile dropped slightly and she tensed only just noticeably. She was probably one of the very very few at Camp Half-Blood besides Chiron and Mr. D who knew such a place even existed, that its inhabitants even existed. No one knew where it was though. She didn’t know much past the fact that it was out there somewhere, though. That, and whenever the Roman demigods and the Greek demigods met, there was generally bloodshed. It was no news that historically the Romans had been much more violent than the Greeks. And that Romans and Greeks had never been the best of friends.

Tyler had actually trained at the other camp. ‘They were reluctant to give me up, but I got out and now here I am.’ That wasn’t encouraging. Her mind started running a hundred miles an hour. If they were reluctant to give him up, would they come looking for him? Would they even know where to look? Would they attack Camp Half-Blood if they had the chance? How did their numbers compare? Their skills? Oh, she wished she knew! But Tyler would. No, she couldn’t ask. That would be taking advantage of him here. He sounded honest enough. Maybe she’d just have to keep a closer eye on him, if he was from the other camp. She was willing to give him a chance though.

But for right now, his involvement with the other camp should be kept on the down-low. She still wasn’t even sure she should tell Chiron. So many things to figure out. At least it kept her preoccupied from worrying about Percy and Luke. She glanced around to make sure no one else could have heard him. There was no one there. Thank Athena for that. “I wouldn’t parade that around too much. Like, at all,” she said in a lowered voice. “I’m sure you’re familiar with the less-than-cordial relations between the two camps.” Then another question, possibly more disturbing, came to her. “Um, how did you find us anyway? Just wondering. I mean, the Camp is fairly hard to find unless you know where to look or have a guide.” Did the Roman camp have greater knowledge than Camp Half-Blood? As in, where they could find the opposing camp? That wasn’t good news. She glanced up at Thalia’s pine on the hill. The magic border

She shook that idea off after a moment and took back up her normal tone. “Anyway, um, yeah… so, I’m guessing if you pretty much just got here, you probably haven’t gotten to see much of the camp. I can give you a tour if you like. Or just show you to your cabin if you want to rest up. Speaking of which, are you claimed?”

Word Count: 510

[zeus]

Her smile, which seemed rather genuine to him was a good sign. Tyler knew that most people decided how they felt about you in the first moments of your meeting them. If she had grimaced or walked away, he would have been screwed. In fact, he would have been forced to find someone new to trust. Fortunately for him Annabeth was shaping up to be a perfect choice. Not that he expected anything less of her. She was a daughter of Athena after all.

That being said, he could see her mind moving at a mile a minute. Perhaps all demi-gods weren’t as simple minded as he initially thought. Or at least not this one. He could see why someone would favor her, she was far from an idiot. Though she did make the mistake of letting him know she was thinking, even if she didn’t know it. Her face was screwed up in this cute childish manner, almost like she didn’t like what she was hearing or rather questioning. After thousands of years of dealing with people, he had gotten extremely good at reading them, or so he liked to believe.

When next she spoke it was clear to him what she was so worried about. Her fear of the other camp amused him. It was true that the Greeks and Romans were far from alike, but in the end they were all children of the same gods. The only difference being that the Romans were just angrier. Either way, Tyler preferred the Greeks. They were more human and less weapon. Not that he minded having his own army on the other side of the country that was ready for anything.

His eyes glittered when she said not to parade that around, that would be the easiest thing for him to exclude, “Consider it a secret between us.” It was a proposal, to see how willing she would be to accept a new friend. He smiled in a you-have-no-idea- manner when she mentioned him knowing about the relationship between the camps. In al honesty, he knew it better then most.

There was something in his self proclaimed genius that he had forgotten to consider. How had he found camp half blood? He shrugged, “This hobo on the train told me, I think it might have been Hermes.” Tyler figured since, Percy Jackson had run into a god disguised as a hobo on a train then she would believe it. Then again maybe she wouldn’t, but it was worth the risk. She looked worried for a moment, but the worry was soon replaced. Questions, she had a lot of them and apart from being annoyed, he admired her curiosity. Clearly she wasn’t about to trust just anyone. Fortunately, he was not just anyone. “A tour wouldn’t be to bad,” he said carelessly.

Tyler knew the parent question would come up eventually. In fact he had spent a great amount of time considering what to say. His options were slim as he would never claim to be son of a minor god and it would be impossible for him to be believed as blood as half of the Olympians. So, he let his stubbornness and temper decide for him. “Mars,” he said, “But I suppose you call him Ares.”

word count;; 548
tag;; Annabeth <3
intentions;; the worst

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[Annabeth Chase]

Annabeth smiled, glad he didn’t seem like the general stereotype that came to mind whenever she thought of Roman demigods - not something that happened often. That is, he wasn’t angry and mean and picking fights for no good reason, like Ares’ kids on steroids. Not a pleasant thought. That, and he was willing to actually cooperate and not tell the world about his past training. That part was extremely helpful. It didn’t mean that she wouldn’t always be tempted to ask him this or that, but she would do whatever she could to keep herself from pop-quizzing him repeatedly.

As for the hobo bit, she would just have to take his word for it. Percy had said he’d met Apollo in disguise, though he hadn’t said much past that. So it was possible. She supposed it would be a fitting disguise for the god of travelers. But anyway, enough personal ponderings. He needed a tour and help settling in to life at Camp Half-Blood. “Yeah, we generally go by Greek names, understandably. So Ares, huh?” Not her favorite of the cabins, or anyone’s really, but there were exceptions to every rule. “I’ll show you where your cabin is when we get to it. It’s hard to miss,” she added with a smirk at the thought of possibly missing that brick.

“Anyway, over there’s the Big House. That’s where Chiron, our activities director, and Mr. D, the camp director, stay. Meeting and the sort are held there generally. The Oracle used to be in the attic too until she sort of took over my friend, Rachel, and now she’d the new Oracle. Moving on.” She led the way past the Arts & Crafts building, and to the amphitheater, the rock wall glowing menacingly in the distance just before the glitter of Long Island Sound. As she walked, she explained this or that, or mentioned a helpful hint. There were a handful of people around, as well as a rather loud game of sand volleyball going on. Even with that, though, the two weren’t disturbed much at all. Seeing new people around the Camp was becoming so much of a norm since Percy had made the Olympians promise to claim their kids that some of the novelty of new faces had sort of worn off.

Word Count: 384
Note: That is embarrassingly small. Sorry!

[zeus]

This whole convince Annabeth thing was turning out to be easier then he expected. Tyler got the feeling there were just a millions questions she was leaving out. That was the logical explanation and since most people didn’t just interrogate the second they met it made more sense that she waited. Either way he shrugged. If it was easy, even for now he would accept it. He had no doubt that things would get much harder in time. Not everyone would be as welcoming as Annabeth, in fact he was sure most wouldn’t be. It was a challenge he was ready for. Tyler wasn’t afraid of anyone and he had the attitude to prove it. Even if it was foolish for a demi-god to act that way. What did he care, the worst that could happen is they would find out he had lied. Not that he really cared if they did, what could anyone do about it.

He nodded when she said Ares. It was rather hard to imagine himself as the spawn of that god but he would have to deal with it. The idea of living it that red prison was what bothered him the most. Red was not his color but more importantly he wasn’t sure if he had the restraint not destroy a few half-blood punks. He would have to learn it though and quickly if he intended to stick around. There was no way he would accomplish what he came for if he didn’t. One day wasn’t enough to uncover a plan of mass destruction.

He listened closely as she told him about the different camp. Not that he really needed it. He had looked down on the camp enough to know it’s lay out. Mostly because of Dionysus. He stifled a laugh when she said Mr. D. Tyler wondered just how miserable the god was with out alcohol. Not to mention he was surrounded by teenagers which he had never been a fan of. Not that Tyler really blamed him. Teenagers could be so dramatic, not even the Olympians came close. It was love that complicated everything so much. It was new to children. Love was the strongest then and heartbreak hurt the most. He shrugged it off, poor, miserable Mr. D. His punishment was proving successful.

Tyler gave her a sideways glance when she mentioned the oracle. He didn’t remember anything about the two of them being friends. “So you’re friends with the Oracle?” he questioned not seeming too interested. It wasn’t too big of a problem, he would just have to avoid being with them both at the same time. There was no real way of knowing what Rachel would see and he didn’t need Annabeth hearing. He thoughtlessly added that to his list of do-nots.

Mental notes started getting stored in the back of his mind as she talked about the camp. He was mostly listening to hear what she favored. She was battle minded and he was more likely to spend time at places like that. Though Tyler had to admit the places he would have preferred were pretty obvious. “Not to shabby of a camp.”

word count;; 527
tag;; Annabeth <3
intentions;; the worst

[/center][/blockquote]

[Annabeth Chase]

Annabeth glanced at him with he seemed to only just hold back a laugh. Okay, so she had to admit, referring to a god with a name like ‘Mr. D’ wasn’t the most flattering thing ever, and probably a little funny to a newcomer, but still. “I wouldn’t laugh to his face. He’s a god. And not really the most socially adept one too. He threatens to turn Campers into all sorts of things, bushes, dolphins, that sort, all the time, and sometimes doesn’t just threat. Just a heads-up… Oh, and another thing,” she added in an afterthought. “You may already know the name, but in case you don’t. Chiron is a centaur. So you’re forewarned of that too. I have seen one or two new people pass out before when they found that out the hard way.” Those had been interesting times. Then again, welcome to Camp Half-Blood. This place was anything but normal.

Despite trying to keep her head in the tour for the most part, she had to smile to herself at his question about Rachel. “Yeah, Rachel and I go way back. Well, I knew her long before we were friends. I only started getting along with her when she became the Oracle; before that I pretty much hated her guts,” she said with a bit of a laugh. “Long story, that one. But she’s nice. A little weird, but nice.”

They continued on what seemed more-or-less the standard tour she’d given so many times she could do it in her sleep. Volleyball courts, Arts & Crafts, Amphitheater, Climbing Wall, Dining Pavilion, Woods - though only along the border of the monster-infested forest -, stables, strawberry fields, armory, arena, and last but not least the cabins. She smiled at his comment. “Yeah, it’s pretty nice, really.” She looked around the cabins contently, taking care not to look directly at Cabin 3. “It’s home. That one there,” she pointed to the Ares cabin, “will be your cabin. Oh, speaking of which, do you know if you’ll be summers-only or a year-rounder?”

Word Count: 344
Note: I cannot believe how short that is! I am so sorry! *goes to hunt down muse with a net*

[zeus]

Her fear of Dionysus made him laugh. Sure he was an Olympian, but in his mind that was a wasteful use of his abilities. Rather pathetic in fact, considering everything that he could do. Then again, his punishment had limited him in more than one way. It was his own fault though, Dionysus should have known better than to be so reckless. He had endangered quite a few people and that wasn’t acceptable. Granted he argued about the World War debacles but those were irrelevant. The point was, he was risking lives and that was not ok. At least not at the time, the world was getting rather amusing and he had to go and mess it all up. It was quite rude of him.

He laughed when she mentioned Chiron being a centaur. The pair of them went way back, so he was very aware. There would be no learning the hard way for him. In fact the only thing that was ever hard for him was putting an end to people attempting to over throw him. Apparently he would have to deal with that for eternity. He wasn’t too excited about that, but it gave him something to do. Not that there wasn’t enough of that already, but it made things interesting. “I’m not too worried about them,” he said in a teasing manner.

She was honest and for the most part that was a new occurrence in his world. Most of the people he was around had double motives, they said one thing while attempting to accomplish another. Her honesty was refreshing in a strange way. “That’s usually how the best friendships start or so it seems.” Life happened in stages, storming was essential. You had to hate someone before you could truly care for them, or in this case, get along.

He noticed the happiness in her voice when she said the camp was pretty nice. Sometimes he forgot Camp Half-Blood was home to some people. It was sad to think of it that way, but that was the truth. He didn’t do well with sad, not in any way. In fact just saying the word was an accomplishment. Tyler looked at Cabin 3 for a moment, before glancing over at Cabin 1. They couldn’t have been more different and his chance of fitting in at Cabin 3 was questionable. But this was all a part of the show and an important part at that. “Looks lovely,” he remarked sarcastically. He never understood the rational behind Ares décor but then again, he tried to stop understanding any god a long time ago.

“Summers for now, but I could be persuaded otherwise,” he said with a smirk at AB. He was just messing around, but he couldn’t let himself pass up the opportunity that had arisen to flirt with the pretty brunette.

word count;; 475
tag;; Annabeth <3
intentions;; the worst

[/center][/blockquote]

[Annabeth Chase]

Annabeth looked him over with a bit more respect than before. He seemed to be taking all this a lot better than most. Even to the point of laughter. Not too worried about a centaur, okay, but a god. “I don’t know what they teach you at that other camp, but it’s generally not a good idea to get on the bad side of any god. Take my word for it.” Her tone revealed that she really did know from experience. She imagined she would never for the rest of her life be able to stop watching out for Hera’s revenge. So be it, though, she didn’t take back anything she’d said to that stuck-up, hypocritical goddess of cheats.

She thought on his words concerning friendships. Well, it did go for Rachel, and Percy too for that matter. Though, like in the case of a lot of her other friends - Luke, Thalia, Nick, Gail, Isaac, etc. - she never really hated them in the slightest. So, in all actuality, most of her friends were the opposite. “Well, not always. Guess just in a few odd cases. At least, in my experience.” She looked around the cabins when he fell silent, her ADHD getting the better of her, and her eyes fell on the distant woods. “Oh, one other thing,” she said in a grave tone, looking back to him. “I think I mentioned it before, but I really can’t emphasize it enough now days. Not to scare you off your first day or anything, but seriously, don’t go into the woods alone.” She glanced around to make sure no one could overhear. It was still a touchy subject around camp that something like this could happen. “We had a Camper die there not long ago. And not by way of monster, we don’t think. He didn’t have many physical injuries, and I doubt a monster would have just let him be. One of your siblings actually, Ryan, he found the poor guy. Drowned and left by the creek. We’re still working on figuring out what exactly happened. Just… don’t go in there alone, okay?”

She looked back at cabin 5, Ares’ cabin, and smirked at his remark. “Yeah, well, god of war, not interior design. Not that I haven’t thought of better ways to design it over my time here, but they don’t take suggestions well. But as long as you learn where the traps and mines are, and can hold your own in a fight, you’re good to go. I guess. My cabin’s over there.” She turned and pointed to the plain grey building with an owl over the door directly across the lawn. “Athena’s. Feel free to stop over if you ever need anything.”

His answer to her question wasn’t exactly what she’d expected. Sure, his smirk made it pretty obvious he was joking around, but still. With all the drama with Percy and Luke going on… She brushed it away. She’d never heard of a kid of Ares actually being flirty in any way shape or form. It just didn’t happen. So chances were he was referring to something else, like maybe a heavily stocked weaponry or something, whatever Ares kids were into. “Well, alright then,” she said with a laugh. May as well just let things play out. He seemed like a pretty nice guy, one she wouldn’t mind as a friend, son of Ares or not. Though even if he did end up staying year round she would only really see him during the summers and maybe breaks during the school year. It had been roughly five years since she’d actually stayed here full time.

Word Count: 611

[zeus]

Tyler chose to totally ignore the warning about pissing off a god. He wasn’t particularly worried about that, if there was a serious threat he could easily amend the issue. After all being who he was, there were about three people that would even phase him when it came to fighting, two of which where nowhere near where he was just then. “You’ve pissed off gods? Which ones?” Tyler was aware of a few but not all feuds reached his ears. Some people were too proud to admit things weren’t going well with demi-gods. Most would only mention after they had made a fool of the mortal - or half mortal - in question. “Good ones I hope, no reason to waste your time annoying people like Aphrodite.” For unexplainable reasons Tyler had never been a fan of Aphrodite. Perhaps because she upset the balance on Olympus. Or maybe it was the whole being born of the sea thing, clam shells were far too girly for him.

He shrugged, there were cases in which friendship was always pleasant. Truth be told though, friendships without drama weren’t healthy ones. A lot of times it was from indifference. Anger was natural and true friends were the kind who stood by you in spite of it. If Tyler had learned anything from the mortals it was that much. The same couldn’t really be said for gods though. Friendship didn’t exist amongst them. If anything the strength of relationships there was how many times you tried to kill each other and failed. “Life is odd.”

His attention perked when she told him not to go into the woods alone. Even though she had warned him and seemed fairly concerned by the idea it was undeniably tempting. He doubted there was much of anything which could prove a challenge to him here. Considering, of course, that they were trying to train demi-gods and not kill them. Then again, there were some questionable practices at the camp from time to time. The death caught him off guard though. From what he had heard a lot was going on outside of Olympus but this was news to him. In fact, Tyler barely even noticed when she said his brother. Some how he had managed to overlook the fact he would actually have ‘siblings’ here. That was going to be an interesting challenge. He had already hated the brothers he had, more of them just seemed like torture. “Yeah, sure,” he responded to her warning. He felt quite bad knowing he had pretty much lied, but how else would he uncover the truth.

He suppressed a laugh about Ares not being the god of interior design, a fact which was very evident. The idea of traps and mines seemed amusing to him, though unnecessary. “I like to consider myself a capable fighter,” he grinned. Capable was an understatement and the best part was, coming from the west few people would question it. Not to mention he was clearly older then the vast majority of the campers. He looked over at the Athena cabin for a moment considering what kind of trouble he could get himself in there. Tyler didn’t particularly like the idea of overstepping his boundaries with the goddess of wisdom. “I am sure I would be welcomed there with open arms,” he teased her. He highly doubted an Ares kid in the Athena cabin would go over well with anyone.

“Indeed, It was nice meeting you Annabeth. I should probably go settle in, we’re burning daylight after all and there’s plenty of time left to get a good spar in.” That was probably the most Ares-like thing he had said the entire time. Not that it mattered, he had plenty of time to make himself come across as more convincing.

word count;; 633
tag;; Annabeth <3
intentions;; the worst

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[Annabeth Chase]

Annabeth smiled at him. “Yeah, I guess you could say that…” She shrugged, though there was an odd expression under it, like a sort of grimace. Though whether the grimace was in dislike of the goddess in question or guilt or something else was another matter. “Yeah, I’d say pretty important. Queen of the gods. I think we came to a tentative truce after Manhattan, but that’s easily broken, I’m sure. And speaking of Manhattan, I don’t think Hermes likes me either. He tried to kill me. But hey, win some, lose some, I guess. Can’t be friends with everyone.” Seeing as she hadn’t been in the presence of either since she’d spent all that time up on Olympus helping to rebuild - though even then she hadn’t seen either - she really didn’t know where either of those stood. Hera, as was no secret, she had no love for. In fact, quite the opposite of love. More like deep-rooted enmity. And Hermes, well, she had nothing against him until he went all crazy on her. She knew she sort of deserved that, but the fact remained that she now no longer wanted to be alone in his presence. At all, ever. If Percy hadn’t been there, she’d be a burn mark on the floor of the throne room. Not a pleasant thought.

She smirked at his very fitting comment about life. Odd was certainly one word. Crazy was another. Unpredictable, hazardous, and yet strangely all worth it in one moment. She nodded silently. She didn’t know fully how to go about describing life, which was her first inclination to do when he brought that up, in less than a day-long discussion, so she decided to remain silent on it. Not everyone enjoyed a good deep discussion like her and her siblings tended to. So she changed the topic. And the only one that came to mind was a warning against the woods. Lovely topic, but it had to be covered these days. While the idea of the boy she had spoken with only a week before being killed was unnerving, Tyler’s response didn’t help in the slightest. Annabeth crossed her arms, “I mean it. Capable fighter or not, it’s dangerous alone.”

Looking back at her own cabin, she glanced back at Tyler with a smirk. “Most of your siblings, I’d agree. But there are a couple that are not wholly hated. And I have a feeling you could be one of them.” He did seem like a genuinely good guy, after all. And true, while Ares’ and Athena’s kids tended not to get along, she did hope he might take her up on that and stop by sometime. He seemed like the type she would like as a friend. Take the fact that, unlike most of cabin five, he seemed to know what manners were. ‘It’s nice to meet you’ was not something that would come out of the mouth of, say, Clarisse or Natalie. Though, of course, it led into wanting to take advantage of sparring time. “Right, well, wouldn’t want to keep you from beating each other up. Best greeting I can think of,” she said, obviously joking, though for all she knew, that was the standard greeting in cabin 5. She didn’t care to learn. “Nice meeting you too. Guess I’ll see you around.” Another normal day. Give a tour, let them be. He should get to know his siblings, and no doubt beating stuff up was a little higher on his list, but part of her wished he’d hang around a bit longer, just as friends rather than new camper and Athena counselor. Heck, she wasn’t bad at sparring herself! But, if luck was with her, there’d be other chances and he wouldn’t be sucked into the feud between Ares and Athena.

Word Count: 637

[zeus]

Listening to her speak, Tyler tried to see if he recalled any such feud. Then she said the one thing that told him all he needed to know, Queen of the Gods. As much as Tyler loved and respected Hera, it took far too much effort for any one man - god or mortal - to keep up with all of her feuds. It wasn’t that she was a particularly hateful goddess, she was simply a very jealous and easily angered one. Not that he really blamed her. Considering what she had for a husband he was tempted to applaud her for keeping it together as well as she did. Zeus wasn’t exactly the greatest of all people to be stuck with, or at least that’s what he had heard. Tyler didn’t really thing the guy was all that bad, but apparently his opinion didn’t mean much to most people. Hermes, made a little more sense to him. Things had fallen apart for the messenger of the gods towards the end of the war. In fact, it had been pretty bad for him right along. Everyone cracked at some point and Tyler had to admit that he was rather shocked Hermes had kept it together as long as he had.

He grinned when she said you couldn’t be friends with everyone. Tyler knew that better than anyone. He didn’t particularly consider himself all that horrible, but like many people in his position he was widely hated. Tyler had come to learn over the years that the more power one possessed the more enemies they had. Which was why the Big Three faced so much criticism. No one likes people who are a threat to their power, especially when you know they can crush you. Tyler shrugged it off, he was a son of Ares, hate was like food time him. “The less friends you have, the less people you have to worry about turning on you.” That seemed rather Arian to him, but at the same time it was also very true. Friends were nice but few were ever dependable, he had accepted that fact rather early on.

The tone of the conversation took a rapid turn that he hadn’t quite expected. Annabeth’s warning about the woods made him much more curious as to what she was trying to keep him from. Even though she warned him against it, Tyler knew that the forest would probably be the first place which he headed. He wasn’t stupid enough to tell her that though, she would probably tie him down.“I was referring to surviving my cabin, but if you are so worried about me getting hurt in the forest all you had to do was say so,” he said teasing her.

Once again he suppressed a laugh. The fact that she thought he wouldn’t be hated was rather endearing. Clearly she had the wrong idea of him all together. He was an Ares kid, it was true that not everyone hated Ares kids, but they weren’t exactly loved either. As Tyler he was surely hated but if they all knew the truth then being hated was the least of his worries. Surely that would create the uproar of the century. An issue he hadn’t had the slightest interest in dealing with.

Annabeth’s idea of what happened in the Ares cabin was probably spot on, but he wasn’t entirely sure. In fact he wasn’t particularly a fan of Ares kids himself, they were annoying. Two of them in particular drove him nuts every chance that they got. This was the path he had chosen though and Tyler knew he had to stick with it. So he did what he had to, he would go to the Ares cabin, grin and bare it. At least until he found out what he needed to know. “See you around daughter of Athena, hopefully on the battlefield,” he said with a taunting grin. With that, Tyler turned away from AB, heading off into the direction of his cabin and hopefully, for all of their sakes, some answers.

word count;; 681
tag;; Annabeth <3
intentions;; the worst

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