Little Sis-Big Bro Bonding ( JULIA )

[Cameron Hale]

The only thing that the Aphrodite cabin lacked was more space. The girls'..okay, no. Everyones' clothing and assortment of shoes took up a good portion of the cabin. Not to mention some of Cam's half-sisters also had sizable makeup collections that took up their share of space. Not that he had a problem with that, beauty was important. That saying beauty was only skin deep annoyed him. So what if it was? What'd these people want? Beautiful kidneys? Adorable lungs?

Picking a shirt off of his bed, the demigod tossed it over his shoulder. It landed on someone else's bed, but he couldn't be bothered with it. It wasn't his shirt anyways, that much he knew. Not unless he had purchased a girl's hot pink halter top recently. Which he was positive he hadn't. Kicking another high heel to the side, he rolled his eyes. He didn't protest the excessive amount of appearance related things, but it wouldn't have killed them to have been a little more organized. He kept his clothes and shoes tucked under his bed, and the rest of them in a few suitcases next to it, which was a bit better than on other peoples' bunks.

Cameron fell forward onto his bed, his face buried into his navy blue pillow. Picked out, yes, because it complimented his eyes. He was picky, he'd admit. But he had to be, otherwise before he knew it, he'd be settling for ugly five-dollar t-shirts from Goodwill. Even the thought of that made him frown a little. He didn't mind Goodwill clothes for other people, but for him, he needed nice, new clothing.

Cameron didn't last long with his head buried in his pillow long. Not because it was uncomfortable, but because he was pretty sure that it was messing up his hair. Though he'd admit that it was already a bit messy from sword practice. That and the fact that he got a little sweaty were the only downsides to sword practice. But besides the affects appearance-wise, sword practice was useful. Unless he wanted to get cut up, he had to take his mind off everything else which was nice a lot of the time. It also served as exercise, which in the long run was helpful for his appearance. Lastly, practice also improved his skills. He planned on getting out of this camp eventually, and when he finally did, he'd have to be able to protect himself from those ugly-as-Hades monsters.

Dangling his arm off the side of his bunk, Cameron felt around for the stereo remote that he knew was down there. His fingers grasped it and he hit what he assumed to be the play button. Apparently he was correct because the stereo started playing a soft melody. Love song, no doubt. It wasn't what he'd left in the stereo, but it'd do. He was the son of the goddess of love, so love songs didn't bother him like it might bother the Ares or Hephaestus boys.

Tag; !Julia!
Word Count;526

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[Julia Porter]

Julia rushed from the forest, quite happy that no one was around. She was sure she looked as if she’d been to Hades and back after what had just happened. Her hair was a mess of knots with twigs and leaves stuck throughout, her nails chipped and broken, her makeup streaking down her face accompanied by tears. She didn’t want anyone to see her like this, and she didn’t want to see anyone else. As she approached the cabins she caught the smell of salt water, which caused her eyes to snap up. Another wave of tears washed over her as she took in the Triton cabin, just praying to anyone who would listen for Joel to stay away from her for now. The last thing she needed was a run in with him after everything that had happened with Phobos. As she reached up to wipe away her tears Julia contemplated chucking a handful of the shells at the cabin but thought better of it. Joel could be inside and the sound would alert him if that were the case.

Better to just go back to her cabin and… And what? She wasn’t sure what she would do there. What if one of her siblings was in? Julia had been gone from the cabin all day, even missing dinner. First she had met Joel, and then had left the group on the way to dinner to go into the forest and think; and then she had met Phobos. And now she was even worse than when she’d gone into the woods. Physically she was disgusting, and her siblings would probably be horrified by her appearance. Disheveled looks, a few rips in her shirt from when she had fled from the forest… Not to mention her current mental state. Her half-brother had shown her what she feared the most, he had revealed that he was manipulating the demi god she loved; and she had a feeling that he wasn’t afraid to use their love to manipulate Joel or maybe both of them even more.

Her thoughts led her to the door of the Aphrodite cabin, though she didn’t feel right approaching the building in her current state. She tried to compose herself, wiped the tears from her eyes before she realized that only smudged her makeup more than it had already been. She hadn’t been able to stop the tears, so they flowed right past her tears. Anyone in the cabin had probably heard her approaching before she opened the door, but she honestly didn’t care. Julia made her way into the cabin, keeping her sobs as quiet as possible; but the song that hit her ears as soon as she stepped foot inside made it quite difficult. She loved love, but that was the problem right now. A daughter of Aphrodite had allowed herself to fall for a boy so hard that it was obvious to anyone, and now it could be used to hurt them. It disgusted her. Love shouldn’t be used to hurt people. That was wrong.

Without looking around to see who was in the cabin, Julia made her way to her own bed and collapsed on it, burying her head in the pillow with complete disregard to what the dirt would do to her sheets or what the position would do to her hair and makeup. After a few more sobs the lyrics of the song really started to get to her and Julia reached for something, anything that could be used as a projectile. She sat up, her right hand wrapped around a round bottle of perfume which was quickly sailing through the air before crashing into the stereo, shattering and spilling the remaining liquid. A shoe came next, though it was thrown with a bit less malice as she fell into another sob, sliding off her bed and settling on the floor with her back against her bunk. ”Will you turn that stupid song off?”

[/color] Her question was unnecessary, seeing as her projectiles had done sufficient damage.

More tears welled in her eyes and she reached out to grab a shirt, not even caring who it belonged to, before using it to clean her face a bit before looking up to see who had been listening to the stereo. Oh dear. Her older brother, probably the most protective person she had ever met, was not the one she needed finding out about all of this. Knowing him he would blame Joel and go straight to the Triton cabin to try and settle things. [/blockquote]

Words: 760
Tag: Cameron
Notes: Julia is a bit on the emotional side. Just in case you couldn’t tell.[/size]

[Cameron Hale]

"Graceful." Cam commented sarcastically at the noisy approach of one of his half-siblings. They probably couldn't be any louder if they tried. He'd been hoping for a little alone time since his little meeting with that Oracle girl, but it wasn't like he was going to ask them to leave. It wasn't his cabin alone, he knew that. Plus it wasn't like he didn't enjoy the company of his siblings. Some more than others though, but he still liked them all. Or at least managed them. Family was family, and family had become even more important to him ever since Daniella had died.

Breaking his unfocused stare at the floor, the boy looked up to see which of his siblings had graced him with their presence. The blonde hair was hardly a helpful identifier, but Cam caught enough of a glimpse of the girl's face to recognize. Julia. He tried not to pick favorites of anything, but admittedly, Julia was his favorite half-sister. "Um hello there, Jules of the jungle." He greeted her as he noticed all of the leaves and twigs tangled up in her usually smooth hair. What had she been doing? Playing adventurer?

His teasing mood immediately faded out, however, when he got a better look at her face. Her make-up was smudged all along her face and the smudges were courtesy of what looked to be a constant stream of tears. No daughter of Aphrodite would let her make-up smudge unless something drastic had happened. And he was thinking that this type of drastic was a lot different then the I-just-lost-one-of-my-shoes drastic. 

Cam's eyebrows raised in shock as a bottle of perfume smashed into his stereo, leaking the scented liquid all over the machine. The song from the machine automatically became cracked and affected by static. Liquids and electronics did not mix well. Neither did shoes and electronics apparently, he concluded as one of Julia's high heels left a massive dent in his stereo. He couldn't say he was too concerned about the stereo though. He was more disturbed by the fact that she was calling a love song stupid.

"Gladly." He nodded although there was hardly any sound left coming from the stereo. Though there was still the little sound of static coming from it as it short circuited so Cam promptly took to shoving the stereo off of its perch on an end table. The crash as it hit the flooring of the cabin was quite a bit louder than the sound of the impact the shoe had made when it'd hit the stereo. A fancy 300 dollar stereo ruined within the span of 30 seconds. Not bad.

Sliding off his bunk, he picked up a lone box of tissues before silently taking a seat next to Julia. Gently taking the shirt out of her hands, he tossed it off to the side. Fishing a tissue out of the box, he held it out for her to take. "Now.." He paused, because as gentle as he was acting right now, he was really actually..Pissed off. Cameron was a little overly protective of his family, and he'd be damned if someone was going to make his favorite sister cry. "Whose ass do I have to kick?" He wondered aloud, as he gently started to untangle twigs from his sister's hair.

Tag; Jules!
Word Count; 579

[Julia Porter]

Julia would admit that wrecking the stereo had helped things a little. But then she felt bad for breaking her brother’s stereo. She really liked him, and that piece of electronic equipment had looked quite expensive. She would have to buy him a new one sometime, though she wasn’t quite sure when she would be in the city next. Maybe she would be able to get a Hermes kid to find her one. Though she did have to smile the slightest, just a slight twitch of her mouth, when he went ahead and destroyed the stereo completely after her little attack. And she almost felt he deserved it after what he called her.

There was too much on her mind for her to truly smile, and the slight twitch disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by another stream of tears. Julia watched him walk over, but she clung to the shirt for a moment before letting him pull it away. She wasn’t even sure why she wanted to hold onto the shirt, maybe it gave her a sense of control or something stupid like that. Plus her half-brother’s idea was much better, more sanitary especially, than someone’s shirt she had just picked up off of the floor. She reached out and took the tissue, then grabbed a few more out of the box, before turning away from him. ”Go away, Cam!”

[/color] She cried, wiping her eyes with one of the tissues.

And then came the question she had been waiting for, that she had been dreading since she stepped foot inside of the cabin. Julia didn’t want Cam to try to kick Joel’s ass, especially since she was pretty sure that would end badly for the son of Aphrodite rather than the son of Triton. She turned back towards him, shaking with another sob before she shot him a glare. ”You’re not going to kick anyone’s ass.[/color] She wasn’t even sure if she blamed Joel for any of this. Sure, he could have told her what was going on when they met… But they hadn’t exactly known each other for long, he could have even been trying to protect her from Phobos. But he had still lied to her, he had still been too afraid to tell her the truth about what was happening. That thought set off another wave of tears and she used one of the tissues she had to wipe her nose before she looked at him again. She couldn’t very well tell him the truth either, not if she didn’t want him to try and take revenge on Joel. Not only had the son of Triton hurt her; he was planning to hurt the entire camp by helping Phobos so he could protect his sister. She felt horrible about it, especially as Cameron started to help clean her up, but she wasn’t going to drag him into this.

”I… I’m just not used to falling for someone else, that’s all.”[/color] Well that was partially true. Julia had strung plenty of boys along in the past, but she had never fallen head over heels for one like she had with Joel. That didn’t exactly explain the sobbing or the disgusting state she was in… But maybe her brother would be thick enough to believe it. Julia doubted it and she tried her best to think of another cover story.
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Words: 586
Tag: Cameron
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[Cameron Hale]

Cameron had to admit that even the slightest bit of a smile coming from his half-sister made him feel better right now. It may not have lasted long, but it was still important to him. His role as the big brother was to protect his sister, and make sure she was as happy as was possible. Nobody had assigned him that particular job, but he felt the obligation to help out his family however he could...However he really wished that he could've helped his sister out somewhere else..where it didn't reak of the perfume that she had just smashed open. It was a nice smelling perfume, he'd give her that, but there was so much of it that he felt like his gag reflex was going to kick in.

"Go away?" Cam repeated, tossing a small twig onto the floor. He knew that his sister probably just wanted to be alone so that she could cry it out, but he wasn't going to have that. It was stupid to leave if he still thought that maybe he could at least try and cheer her up. "You better be careful Jules, or you're really going to hurt my feelings. Then you won't be the only one crying." He joked quietly as he fiddled with a tissue himself. But while Julia was using one to wipe up her tears, Cam just needed something to take his frustration out on so that he actually wouldn't go hurt whoever had upset his little sister. Or go destroy something..like one of his other siblings' things. Somehow he doubted that they would take it as well as he had taken Julia permanently destroying his stereo. "And not to mention, you know I can't do that. What kind of brother am I if I just leave my sister alone looking like she just came out of a really bad horror movie?" He went for another attempt at making her smile.

"But Juuuules," He complained, quite aware that he sounded like he had when he was three. The glare she gave him though was enough to convince Cam that maybe beating up this mystery problem-causer was not a very good idea. Julia obviously cared a great deal for whoever it was...but that still didn't mean Cameron didn't want to tear the guy to shreds. Aphrodite kids weren't exactly known for their fighting skills, but Cam had taken a particular interest in combat fighting and sword fighting since he had gotten to Camp. His interest in being a good fighter increased even more when Daniella had died. He'd become a year-round camper then, and needed to keep his mind busy a good portion of the time. Fighting had been perfect for that because unless he wanted his face all bruised up then he had to focus.

Working another knot out of Julia's hair, Cameron tried his best not to roll his eyes. "Sis, I dated a daughter of Hermes for quite a while. And one of the many things I learned from her, aside from hotwiring a car and picking a lock, was how to tell when someone is lying." He informed her somewhat jokingly...Though Delia had actually taught him both of those mentioned things. "And you, my little darling sister, are lying...I feel I should add that you're a very terrible liar too."

Tag; Julia!
Word Count; 578

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[Julia Porter]

”No, stay here and keep talking to me. Because that will help.”

[/color] She said, anger and sarcasm creeping into her voice. ”I said, go away!”[/color] His feelings were about the last thing she was worried about at the moment. It would be much better to hurt his feelings than to tell him the truth and have him go after Joel. Her brother’s feelings wouldn’t be the only thing hurting then. ”I could just convince you to go away, you know.” She pointed out, though that raised the question of why she hadn’t tried to Charmspeak her brother into agreeing with her and leaving her alone. She wasn’t even sure of that herself. Maybe she did want a shoulder to cry on, but she definitely didn’t want him prying into what was wrong. If he found out, there would be some definite consequences; not just his retaliation against Joel.

She didn’t react to his comment about a horror movie, except the slightest of cringes. That was exactly what this was. Some sort of horror movie, with certain gods and goddesses playing the part of the villains. She had been a cheerleader in high school… Didn’t that mean she would be one of the first ones dead in the typical horror movie? That, or the villains would just keep toying with her for a while before they enacted whatever they had in plan. Great. Just great.

”What are you, six?”[/color] She asked as he whined like a little kid. She wasn’t going to let him go after Joel, no matter how much he complained about things. She loved the son of Triton, for one, and she doubted that Cam would care about that if he felt Joel had broken Julia’s heart. Julia knew her brother knew quite a bit more about battle than most of the other children of Aphrodite, but she didn’t want to see anyone in this situation get hurt. Not Joel, not her brother. Phobos, maybe… But it wasn’t like she could go ahead and tell Cam about that and expect him to go after the god. ”You’re supposed to be my big brother, remember?”[/color] She sniffled, wiping her eyes with a tissue again to clear up the newly-formed tears gathering there.

”Well I usually don’t have to lie.”[/color] Most situations where lying would be useful could be solved by use of Charmspeak… Though she knew that wasn’t the best use of her abilities. Their mother would probably look down on that, she reminded herself. And that was probably why she wasn’t using it on her brother to get him to leave her alone with her thoughts. ”I’m not used to falling for people. I’m used to them falling for me, having a fling with them and then moving on. More on the lust side of mom’s duties than the love side. And I’m definitely not used to something else coming along and messing with things.”[/color] She stopped herself before going on more about Phobos and everything else that was going wrong.

”I don’t want you to go after him, Cameron.”[/color] She said simply, giving him a look to show she was completely serious about that point. ”I don’t need anything else trying to ruin this. Promise me you won’t?”[/color] Maybe she would open up a little about it… But first she needed to know he wouldn’t just rush off and go off on Joel. Heck, when she had left Joel they were both quite happy with what had happened. Julia wasn’t even sure if she planned on telling Joel about her encounter with Phobos.[/blockquote]

Words: 597
Tag: Cameron
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[Cameron Hale]

"Well, if you insist," Cameron sighed heavily as if this was some major hassle for him. He could recognize the sarcasm in her voice, but he chose to overlook that. That would either annoy Julia or cheer her up a little bit. He was betting on the former. Convince him to go away? Well he had to admit he was a little bit disappointed. He couldn't Charmspeak himself, and sometimes he appreciated that. Maybe he was a bit biased in this situation, but he still thought that Charmspeaking your own sibling was a little immoral. He wasn't exactly the most moral person after dating a daughter of the god of thieves, but he still thought there were some things that just shouldn't be done. "True I suppose, but then you wouldn't be my favorite sister anymore." He claimed, resting his chin on his knees for just a moment. 

He actually considered getting up off his butt and leaving, but it didn't take him long to decide against it. Sure, some people said they preferred to be alone when they were in a terrible state, but Cam had realized something about that. Even some who said they wanted to be alone didn't really want to be alone. When Delia had split Camp and left him behind he had spent a good portion of his time alone. He didn't necessarily want to be alone, but everyone had assumed he did so they avoided him as much as possible. So even if Julia said she wanted him to leave, he wasn't going to. Plus, he didn't think he should be kicked out of his own cabin anyways.

"Sure, let's go with that." The demi-god shrugged indifferently. He would've preferred ten, but six was probably more fitted to his whining. "Hey I am your big brother. Your favorite big brother. I'd say favorite sibling ever, but that may be pushing it," Cam gave her a small lop-sided smile, before wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders. Well at least it was meant to be comforting, though he wasn't all sure that she wouldn't just shove his arm away and then beat him over the head with a shoe. She seemed in a violent rage type of mood, or at least that's what he was gathering from the perfume throwing. 

That makes for one of us. The boy commented silently to himself. He didn't lie all of the time, but there certainly were a lot of times when he would slide in a little white lie. Or in some cases, a very big lie. "Good, I don't need a corrupt little sister." He straightened up his posture, the boards of the bed behind him digging into his back uncomfortably. He personally had never leaned toward the lust side of their mother's gifts. He'd been more entranced by the love side. Granted it'd only been with Delia..and well he had the slightest notion of a crush on that Ares girl. But still, love was more his forte even if he hadn't experienced that much of it. "Something else?" Cameron inquired curiously, glancing over at his sister. 

In response to her look, Cam gave her a pouty, disappointed one of his own. He was sincerely disappointed that he wasn't going to get to murder whoever this guy was, but he would feel even worse if he did murder the guy against Julia's wishes. "I only do pinky promises," Cameron smiled in a goofy manner, holding out his right pinky for her to grab with her own. He realized it was silly, but him and his other little sister Daniella had had agreed that the only promises worth keeping were ones made over pinky promises. 

Tag; Julia
Word Count; 643

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[Julia Porter]

Cameron’s attitude was not winning him too many points with his younger sister, but Julia had to admit she was a little bit relieved when he didn’t get up and walk out of the cabin. She needed this shoulder to cry on, which fit with the reason she didn’t just Charmspeak him. That, and Charmspeaking one of her siblings just didn’t seem right. Well, at least not in a situation like this one. Sure, when there was just some stupid argument over who looked the best in an outfit or something like that Charmspeaking was a useful strategy to ensure she got her way. This was too serious for that. ”And I probably wouldn’t Charmspeak my favorite brother.”

[/color] She stated, resting her temple on her knee and looking to the side.

”Yeah. I’m sticking with six.”[/color] A brief smile played on her face when Cam gave her a smile, though she turned away for a moment when he wrapped an arm around her. She choked back a sob, allowing his arm to remain despite the overwhelming urge to bolt to the other side of the cabin rather than let her brother calm her down. Calming down meant actually thinking about what was happening instead of just letting her emotions tell her what to do. And right now her emotions had a really good plan. Cry, find some ice cream, come back to the cabin, curl up on her bed, eat the ice cream, and cry some more. Really, really good plan. But no, Cam was just going to ruin it for her by being all comforting and everything.

You have no idea how corrupt I am If only he knew… But she couldn’t tell him. There was way too much at risk if he found out. She was playing this one close to the chest, involved with a bit more than she had realized until this point. She turned her head to look at her brother, wincing ever so slightly as she realized he had caught on to what she said. ”You know, sometimes it just seems like the universe is completely against you.”[/color] Well, maybe not the universe. But definitely a few of the gods who held sway over certain parts of the universe. ”There are just… things making this really complicated.”[/color]

She let out a sigh as Cameron held out his pinky, rolling her eyes slightly. ”You’re acting like a six year old again.”[/color] She pointed out, though she hooked her pinky with his anyway. She hesitated for a few moments after they had made the promise, still not sure whether to tell Cameron about Joel. That would mean owning up to so much that she wasn’t sure she was ready to do.

She sniffled, wiping her nose with a clean tissue before continuing. ”So… I decided to skip out on combat training today and spend some time tanning instead; but you know you can’t blame me for that. Practice is just… ew.”[/color] It meant way too much sweating and the potential of getting cut; scars weren’t attractive on her. ”Well I was out by the lake and I met this son of Triton…”[/color] She smiled, her face lighting up compared to what it had been a moment before as she thought about Joel. ”And we started talking and one thing led to another and…”[/color] Cameron didn’t really need to hear the details about kissing and the air bubble or any of that… ”And I know what this feels like. I’ve done it to plenty of boys before. Like I lo- like I need him. I think I’m just afraid that he’ll do to me what I’ve done before.”[/color] That had been an initial concern… But now she was just more afraid of what Phobos was going to do with the two of them. How she was going to help Joel get his sister back and stop Phobos from attacking the Olympians.

”Please don’t try to do anything to him though. I mean… I think he feels the same way about me. I’m just confused.”[/color] She propped her head on her brother’s shoulder as a new wave of tears came. Just great. Exactly what she needed.[/blockquote]

Words: 718
Tag: Cameron
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[Cameron Hale]

Cameron cracked a small smile as Julia referred to him as her favorite brother. He wasn't fully convinced that she really meant what she said, but still, it always felt good for him to be acknowledged as a decent sibling. Plus he liked to think that he was at least a little bit better than any of there other brothers. He didn't like to think too highly of himself, but he knew he was definitely nicer, less self-centered and less of a heart-breaker than any of them. "That's good to know, because I don't think mother would approve of that," He joked, knowing that his mother would probably never find out about it anyways, and even if she did she probably wouldn't care. It wasn't like he was mommy's little boy or anything. If anything, he was thinking that his mother probably favored her daughters.

"Ah, what do you know," The boy shook his head, before letting it fall back against the bed frame. He frowned the littlest bit when Julia withdrew from his arm, but he understood enough not to be offended by it. However he still lifted his arm a little so that it was no longer resting on Julia's shoulders and on the bed frame instead. Cam didn't want to make her feel any worse than she already did even if it was just the slightest bit and even if it was for an irrelevant cause.

Okay so maybe Aphrodite kids weren't always the smartest, but Cam was smart enough. He was smart enough for honors classes in high school, and he'd gotten all A's even when he was spending most of his time in the hospital with Danny, so he was smart enough to know that Jules was BS-ing basically everything she said. "Uh-huh," He mumbled, deciding not to push too much into whatever or whoever was really messing around with her life. "Are these things anything I can help with?" Cam ventured, offering his help while still trying his best not to press into any of the issues directly.

"You know you like it," Cameron gave her pinky a delicate little shake with his own. As far as he was concerned now, their little deal was pretty much set in stone. Unless of course one day Jules decided to let him punch whoever this kid was...in which case, he'd be perfectly happy to do so. It seemed unlikely that that would happen though. "I mean c'mon a six year old brother is much better than a nineteen year old one."

He chuckled a little at Julia's one word description of practice. Sure he didn't like getting all sweaty and gross, but the actual combat itself, he thought that was fun. He'd never actually skipped out on it, which may have been surprising to anyone who knew he was Aphrodite's kid. "Of course, a good tan always takes precedence." Cam nodded semi-seriously, glancing over at his little sister. Son of Triton? Well a least now he knew which cabin to go to if absolutely necessary. It didn't seem like it would be though with the look on Julia's face. He'd gotten that same look on his face when he was with Delia, granted that hadn't really ended on good terms, but that didn't mean the same thing would happen with Julia and this kid. Cameron opened his mouth to ask that Jules just stop talking right there, but she already had. He did not need to know what his little sister did or didn't do with her boyfriend, or whatever he was. "No one would ever dream of doing anything like that to you, Jules. I'm sure your little boyfriend would agree with me." He smiled softly, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly. He didn't actually know the guy, but he knew Julia and he knew she was a wonderful person. That's all anyone needed to know to know whether or not they should hurt her.

"Whatever you want Jules," He assured her as she asked him again to leave the Triton kid alone. Sitting there in silence for a moment, a small idea started to play at the back of Cam's mind. Perhaps it wasn't his best idea, but he thought it might possibly cheer Julia up...well only because it would distract her from the whole problem entirely though. "Maybe you just need some time to sort things out, some time away from Camp perhaps?" Cameron suggested, slipping the idea into the conversation somewhat slowly.

Tag; Jules
Word Count; 784

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[Julia Porter]

No matter what Cam thought, Julia hadn’t been lying when she said he was her favorite brother. The other Aphrodite boys were way too self-centered and more concerned with how their hair looked than if something was going on in a sibling’s life. Well honestly most of the Aphrodite cabin was like that. Julia had been like that when she came to camp, but things changed quickly. Aphrodite was about more than lust and beauty after all. Love had a place in there somewhere; and that meant familial love too in Julia’s book. ”After all, Charmspeaking is a gift. Not a right.”

[/color] Even if Cam was joking about it Julia was serious about the topic. Not every child of Aphrodite could Charmspeak, so Julia didn’t think it was a fair thing to toss it around if you could control it at all.

”No. These are things beyond your control, Cam.”[/color] Beyond her control even. The gods and goddesses she was involved with would do whatever they pleased and she could just hope to find a way to adapt to whatever they chose. She didn’t want to get her brother wrapped up in the mess too; well at least not until Phobos actually acted against the camp. Until then, telling anyone would be way too risky. ”Yeah. Six year olds are adorable at least.”[/color] She smirked slightly.

She even had to chuckle when he let out a small laugh at her description of sword practice. Blame it on her California heritage. ”I’m glad you understand my priorities.”[/color] Honestly, if she was ever even going into battle she wanted to look good doing it. ”And vitamin D is good for you. So I was tanning for health reasons. We can stick with that.”[/color] Actually, if anyone bothered her about skipping training she would probably just go off on them; she wasn’t really in a state to make up excuses as to why she hadn’t shown up. A nice bit of yelling and a well-placed slap would probably do just as good of a job as any excuse at this point. And it would be much better for all of the pent-up anger she had. ”I’ve just never…”[/color] What? Been in love? She’d admitted it to Phobos… But that was just because he had already figured it out. Heck, he had been watching it happen. But she wasn’t quite sure she was ready to say she was in love yet. ”I’ve never really had a stable relationship.”[/color] And most of that had been her fault. But she really wasn’t afraid of that happening with Joel, he seemed to feel the same way she did. It was everything around them that she was worried about.

She smiled as he agreed to stay away from Joel. Good. One less thing for her to worry about. Now there was just… Everything else that was going on. When he suggested she should take some time away from camp, Julia couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Because that had ended so well last time. ”Right. Because Chiron is just going to let me waltz out of here. And I never see The Oracle, so it’s not like I’m going to get a quest or anything. But I promise I’ll get you a new stereo next time I can go out.”[/color]
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Words: 555
Tag: Cameron
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[Cameron Hale]

"Yeah, right, that too." Cameron nodded in agreement, though in some cases he believed if you had a gift...Why not use it? At least in the correct situations. All of the cabins had one gift or another, and  Charmspeaking was the gift of the Aphrodite cabin. Well that and good looks, which were a lot more useful than people gave them credit for. When you were good-looking, you could talk people into doing a lot of things for you. Not to mention you made a good distraction. Some Aphrodite kids could be as deceitful as Hermes kids. Cameron often counted himself amongst the deceitful kids in his cabin. His lies were smooth and believable, and he didn't like to brag too much about his looks, but...With a face like his, who wouldn't believe his lies? Girls were the easiest to trick obviously, but guys weren't that hard to trick either. He'd been told he had a trusting face...ah, yeah right.

"Okay, if you say so lil Sis." He smiled as an act of reassurance. It didn't seem like there was much comforting her though at least not over this particular problem. "But if there's anything I can ever help you with, just ask." The boy offered, really meaning it. Big brothers had their obligations, but Cameron actually liked to help out his family when they needed the help. "Hey,I'm adorable at any age!" He jokingly protested. Glancing at Julia with an oh-so-innocent expression on his face, Cam reached out his hand, tickling his sister's side. "You, however, must've been much nicer and sweeter when you were six."

"How couldn't I? Tanning is a top priority for all of us in the cabin." A sad truth, but Cam didn't have any problem admitting to it. As a matter of fact, looking at his own arms, he could tell that he needed a bit of a tan himself. He'd have to work out a little time at the lake himself after talking to Julia, but still sometime before his quest preferably. "Of course, I'll back you up on that if anyone asks." He nudged her, only half serious about the matter. Though he was serious about backing her up some way if anybody pestered her on skipping training. Some of these campers seriously had a stick up their butt, and would hound people about training. Cameron had never missed training himself, but he'd seen other people get berated for it. It certainly wasn't pretty. "I wouldn't worry too much about it, Jules. Once you get used to it, there's no other feeling in the world to compare to it." And when he said it, he was quite obviously referring to love since he could tell that that was what was really taking his little sister by surprise.

Cameron wasn't really surprised by Julia's less-than-enthusiastic reaction to his suggestion. He knew that ditching camp wasn't exactly approved of, and he would've found it a little odd if the Oracle had delivered quests to both him and his sister. "I'm not too concerned about the stereo, Jules." He chuckled, nudging a piece of the broken plastic with his foot. Not even a Hephaestus or Athena kid could fix that thing now. "Well..Say the Oracle happened to give your favorite brother a quest..after hitting him multiple times with a paint brush.." He shook his head a little at the last bit, recalling how the brush had left red raspberry goo all over his arms. "And saaaay, he just so happened to invite you on said quest? Your supposed reaction would be?" Cam smiled weakly at his little sister, figuring this was as good a way to ask as any.

Tag: Julia
Word Count: 647

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[Julia Porter]

”I mean, I know mom has better things to do, but I still think she might get a little upset if her kids were just using their gifts to mess with people’s heads just for the fun of it.”

[/color] There was a time and place for that sort of thing, dealing with monsters for example. In other situation there were the gifts that every child of Aphrodite had. Good looks, seduction, the stuff that Julia considered really fun. And Charmspeak wasn’t even that much of a gift all the time, like when you weren’t sure if someone’s actions were because you were too passionate about a subject and were influencing them or if they were the person’s true feelings.

”I will.”[/color] Like that would ever happen. Asking anyone for help meant letting them in on what was going with the various gods and goddesses; which in turn meant some sort of retribution by those gods and goddesses. The best plan of action currently seemed to be just keeping people in the dark until it was too late for them to do anything that would evoke anger. That sounded worse and worse the more Julia thought about it, but there wasn’t anything else she could think of. She finally broke away from those thoughts when her brother tickled her and she let out a laugh, a true laugh instead of a forced one. ”I’m plenty sweet right now!”[/color] Just ask Joel. She didn’t think it would have helped the situation any if she brought that up though.

She nodded along with what her brother said about tanning being a priority for the whole cabin. In all honesty most of them attending at least some of the training sessions. It had become painfully clear a few years ago, at least to those of the Aphrodite cabin that had been there, that training could mean the difference between surviving a battle and dying in it. And if recent events were any indication, there would be a battle coming. And whichever side Julia was on, those on the other side were currently much better trained than she was. ”Thanks Cam. I really appreciate that.”[/color] At least she knew her big brother had her back about the training problem. She would definitely go to her next session, no matter what else popped up. ”I already know that. “[/color] She said, talking about the feeling. It seemed odd, a child of Aphrodite being so surprised by love, but it had happened. Getting used to it would just be a problem, especially when she and Joel would rarely get a quiet moment together. There was always a chance that they were being watched, they would have to make sure their actions didn’t anger any certain deity.

”Well I’m concerned about it.”[/color] Julia didn’t like owing anyone, and she considered that stereo a debt that had to be repaid as soon as possible. And it wasn’t as thought she was too worried about money, as long as she could get in contact with her father he would send her some. Maybe if she paid her brother back she would feel a little less bad about lying to him. It took a few moments for his words to sink in, and then a few more for Julia’s scrambled brain to figure out exactly what they meant. ”You mean the Oracle… She gave you a quest?!?”[/color] Well, it made sense. If any child of Aphrodite was going to get a quest it would be Cam. ”Why would you invite me, Cam? If it’s just because you feel bad for me then I would say find someone else.”[/color] She was definitely interested in going, but Julia didn’t want to get invited out of pity. ”Are you serious about this? You want me to come with you?”[/color]

Tag: Caaaaaaaam
Words: 635[/blockquote][/size]

[Cameron Hale]

"Possibly," Cameron nodded only in half agreement. He didn't really believe that his mother would care all that much, or at least not enough to do anything about it. Nor did he think that his mother was all that busy. He didn't like to disrespect his mother, in fact, he really did like his mother, but he just didn't see that she did all that much. Her only job, as far as he could tell, was to hang around Olympus, look as beautiful as possible and well flirt with every god that crossed her path. Once again he meant no disrespect, but the truth was the truth. "Then again I don't really think you need to Charmspeak me for any reason. If you really want me to go away, you could just ask really reallyyy nicely."

"Good," The older boy managed a small, genuine smile. He wanted his sister to be able to trust him, but he knew that she wasn't going to tell him much about whatever it was that was on her mind now. He didn't share a lot of things with his siblings, so he wasn't going to pry if Julia wanted to keep something to herself. So many of his siblings were gossipers, so Cam had learned to keep his mouth shut about anything he didn't want the whole Camp to know. Which was basically everything. His usual technique to avoid talking about anything personal would be to change the subject as quickly as possible to a pointless topic. His favorite choice was the weather, since it never changed around her anyways. "Liar, you're anything but sweet." He teased, ruffling her already messy hair.

"What are big brothers for if not to yell at people when they yell at you?" He grinned in that silly way of his. He already had his little rant made up in his mind because he'd used it so many times before for some of his other sisters and well, most frequently he used it when Delia had used to skip practice...which was practically all the time. "I figured, but I also figured I should tell you just in case. Wouldn't want you getting scared, running off, and then breaking that poor boy's heart." Cameron joked, though he was much more worried about Julia's heart getting broken. He knew she was a big girl and could take care of herself, but he still worried.

The demi-god rolled his eyes, wondering how his sister could really be all that concerned about his stereo right now. She was practically sobbing and yet she was still mumbling on about replacing his stereo. "Really Jules, the stereo can wait. In the meantime, you can just pay me back by keeping me up there as your favorite brother." He suggested, staring at a blank spot on the cabin wall as Julia contemplated what he said about he quest. An Aphrodite kid wasn't someone who anyone would expect to get a quest, not even an Aphrodite kid themselves. "Not so much gave as much as...made me take it." Cameron muttered beneath his breath. "No, I'm inviting you because I believe you'd made a valuable...asset. Good vocabulary word, right there." He pointed a finger at her, while smiling a joking little smile. "Yes, serious as serious George...No, wait, it's curious George, isn't it?"

Tag; Julia
Word Count; 578

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[Julia Porter]

”I know.”

[/color] But she really didn’t want her brother to go away. ”I guess now that I’ve calmed down I don’t really need you to leave me alone.”[/color] No, being alone would only give her more time to think about what had happened and that definitely wouldn’t be a good thing. So it was probably better that her brother hadn’t left when she had insisted on it earlier.

Yeah, there was no way she was going to tell Cameron, or anyone for that matter, about what was going on. At least not until it was too late for them to do anything to ruin what was actually going well in her life. Maybe that wasn’t the best plan of action in the long run, but she would do whatever she had to in order to ensure that everything went well with Joel, which meant making sure his sister didn’t get hurt in all of this. She shared most things with her siblings, but not this. This was too private for even family to know about. Well, half family at least. ”Don’t mess up my hair!”[/color] She protested in true Aphrodite style even though it had already been ruined by running through the woods and not caring what got tangled in it. But maybe he was right about the not being sweet thing. She was basically turning on the camp… But it was different if you looked at it considering Joel; she was just trying to protect him and help him.

”Honestly? I can’t think of one thing big brothers are good for other than that.”[/color] She joked, laughing a little. ”I think I’ve broken enough hearts before now… I’m not planning on breaking Joel’s no matter what happens.”[/color] And no matter what or who tried to come between them. She’d had enough broken hearts, it was time for a relationship that actually lasted.

”You’re still my favorite brother, Cam.”[/color] Finding him a new stereo would be another good way to distract herself though. ”Well I didn’t think people really got a choice with the whole quest thing…”[/color] But who would turn one down? And if he was seriously inviting her then she wasn’t going to say no to a chance to show the camp that children of Aphrodite were more than pretty faces. ”A good asset?”[/color] She asked, raising an eyebrow. It wasn’t like she was really a good fighter. Above average for the Aphrodite cabin, but she was no child of Ares. She did have the Charmspeaking advantage though and that could come in handy in a tight spot. ”But if you’re serious about this I wouldn’t even have to think about it.”[/color]

Tag: Caaaaaaaam
Words: 445[/blockquote][/size]

[Cameron Hale]

"I knew you needed me," Cameron smirked, though he felt more relieved than cocky that his sister wasn't pushing him away. He was more than happy to be his sister's shoulder to cry on for the time being. Or for any time for that matter. Despite how most other people felt, he always felt it was nice to be needed. "I'm great company for when anyone is having any type of breakdown." His smirk softened into a smile. Considering I've had almost every sort of breakdown in the book. He tilted his head to the side considerably. He was the perfect case for a therapist to take on. Not that any therapist could fix him now. Cam didn't think talking it out while some stranger listened really helped with anything.

"Don't mess up your hair?" He stifled the small chuckle that threatened to escape his lips. If he made fun of her too much, he was a little scared that he'd get a nail file stabbed in his leg. Which wouldn't be very fortunate considering they had a quest to go on and him limping the whole way would definitely slow him down. "Let me tell you sis, I don't think there's much left to ruin that hasn't already been ruined my mother nature." Cameron noted honestly, gesturing towards the mess of blonde hair that could've passed for a bird's nest with all the twigs and leaves.

Cameron laughed slightly, because he had to agree with her even if it was a joke. "Sadly, I can't think of much we're good for either." He shrugged indifferently. Wait, he was pretty good at giving his sisters clothing advice too. But that was only because he was Aphrodite's kid, but then again, they were too so they didn't need much help in the fashion department. "My little sister's in loooove." He strung out the word, unable to resist the temptation to make fun of his sister just a little bit. "How cute is that?" Cam continued his little phase of harassing his sister.

"Well then you're still my favorite sister." Cameron smiled that trademark lop-sided smile of his. He was still a silly kid despite all of the nonsense he had to deal with. "Yeah you don't really." He mumbled beneath his breath. Maybe if he hadn't approached the Oracle though than that wouldn't have happened. Highly unlikely, but still possible. He didn't mind the quest, he just didn't like that he had to bring people with him. It just put more people in danger than necessary, and they were obviously people who he didn't want in danger in the first place. "Yes, asset. If you need a definition I can help with that." Cameron nodded his head, faking a look of seriousness. "Even I wouldn't joke about a deadly quest Jules...Welll, maybe. But I am serious about it now."

Tag; Julia
Word Count; 506

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