The Definition of Awkward (Aria)

[Ryan Simons]

If someone asked Ryan the definition of awkward, it would defiantly be this. Ryan didn't really want anyone's help, he was more the independent sort of person; but he knew he would need some help. Seriously, who wouldn't need help on a quest? Someone who was off their rocker probably, Ryan thought internally. It could be classified as him in a way; so mental that he'd just go off on his own, hope he'd get killed. That was the part that was weird and awkward to him: asking for help. Ryan really had never really received, asked nor gave help in his life (excluding weapons, he had never given help, but he had gotten help). Besides, most people around Camp (if they even cared to watch him in situations) "knew" him as sort of the solo, not needing help, negative, against the world, independent sort of person. Him asking was going to be so uncomfortable. He gave a half shiver, not really prepared for what he was about to do.

Ryan really didn't ask for this. As a matter of fact, he really didn't want it right now. All he wanted was to stay in Camp. Sure, he wanted to leave all the time and going to the city with Nike had been interesting; however, now that he was sort of semi being forced out, he really didn't want to do it. It was more that he didn't want to go on the quest than get out of Camp. Get out of Camp to just get out Hades and to break the rules? Sure. Go out of Camp for a Quest that may result in a death? No, not so much. He stared ahead at the ring of Cabins he was approaching. This was so weird. So, so, so very weird. He halted infront of a Cabin. Ow, stupid sun god, this cabin was so bright on the outside; it hadn't looked like that when he was a few meters away. Now he felt really sick, he half shut his eyes, hesitated, then gave a knocked on the door.

Aria had been one of the first people to pop into his head when the Oracle girl asked him who he had an idea of bringing. Really, only three people stuck out at him; unfortunately, he was only allowed two. He half hissed under his breath. He so hated this, it was just to weird and awkward and downright way out of his comfort zone. Versus what Nike had him do, this was a bit worse. Asking for help versus physical contact, he'd take the physical contact. At least he could swipe her off. A quest, he couldn't avoid, not now since he had been given one. Ryan seriously wished that they could of stayed with the old ways. Accept a quest THEN go to the Oracle. At least it was the demigod's choice back then. Ryan stared at the door, he had half a mind to just run for it. This was just to weird and... yeah, you get the picture.

[Aria Hale]

Her cabin was usually the last place Aria wanted to be. It was bright, cheery, and filled with the people she hated most: her siblings. It was so happy and welcoming and everything. This place was like a bad episode of Barney. She wouldn’t be surprised if they broke into that creepy ‘I love you’ song. Her head just might explode if they did. After all, they sang any other number of bad music. She sat moodily on her bunk in the very back of the cabin, sharpening her knives and doing her best not to throw them at the girl in the bunk next to her that had some disgusting boy band cranked on her headphones. Gah! So annoying!

She was about at the end of her tether when there was a knock at the door. She rolled her eyes and ignored it; she wasn’t exactly the greeting people sort. An older boy got to the door, seeing as he was closer. Though once the boy got to the door and opened it, he immediately turned away with a disgusted look on his face. “Okay, who ordered the moody loser?” A few people laughed derisively.

Aria looked past the boy and stopped short. Ryan? What was he doing here? Gods, if this wasn’t embarrassing to be caught with this band of sing-songy yahoos. Why couldn’t she be in a real cabin? She never much liked being a daughter of Apollo, but when it came to Ryan, she felt even more embarrassed by the fact. Mr. Shiny Look-At-Me Useless god. Then again, could be worse. Could be someone really lame like Demeter or something. Several people had gone on to ignore Ryan, while others were glancing at him like he was some sort of disease. Aria sat stock still on her bunk, trying to sort out what in the world was going on. Of those Apollo campers that were in the cabin, Katie, the cabin councilor was the only one who actually addressed their visitor. “Um, do you need something?”

[Ryan Simons]

A boy that opened the door. Ryan had no idea who it was at all, like almost everyone in Camp. True, he had met some people, but he wasn't into calling them by name any. His grey eyes scanned the room. When he had seen her at the Apollo Cabin Table in the Mess Hall, he decided to to try the Cabin first. It was rare for him to be in his own Cabin, you'd only find him there late at night and in that once case when he met his older sibling. Other than that, he stayed far away from it. No one was his family, especially those in the Ares Cabin. Ryan just glared at him as he insulted him infront of the Cabin. Honestly, he didn't care; Ryan got shoved off the edge of caring a long time ago. They could say what they wanted about him, but he wasn't changing. Insults and reprimands just bounced off him like a ball; he couldn't care less. Then again. This was a good opportunity to start a fight. Sad as it was, the only thing that Ryan looked forward to was fighting and ticking people off. The son of Ares looked at the boy; his back was turned, he could easily stab him. His hand was half at his dagger when he half rolled his eyes and dropped it. Just talk, don't fight. That was so weird a thought. He hadn't had a civil conversation that didn't end up in fighting, ever. Other people had started laughing. No duh, her Cabin would be filled with other campers, he growled internally. Maybe he just should of tried to find her when she went to the arena or the forest. That's where most people would find him.

Dang, of all the places to be knocking. The stupid sun god. Half of him felt bad that he had to see her here of all places, both for her and for him. No, you don't feel bad for anyone in any way. I felt half bad when I hit Nike, his other part argued back. They really needed to shut up inside his head. Ryan was still fighting the urge to just stab the boy in the back, but that would result in fighting. As odd as it sounded to him, he just wanted to talk. It was weird and an unusual thought. Now he really would of wanted to just talk to her at the arena. He was half certain both he and she would be a bit more comfortable with that setting. It was more his environment since he never spent a lot of time with his Cabin. He hated being a son of Ares. Half because his dad, half because he hated his siblings, another half: everything else. That added up to one and a half, but he really didn't care. Pin point was, he hated it.

Some of the campers in the Cabin shifted to look at him. Oh gods, it felt like being under surveillance again. He hated that as well; but then again that was Ryan, he hated well, everything. He spotted Aria. Okay, now how to get her out? One of the Campers addressed him. "Yeah, his cut off head and on a platter," he snarled, looking at the male Apollo kid who had addressed him first. He started feeling queasy. Now the awkward part would begin. "I would like to talk with her," he hissed icily, nodding over to Aria. This was going to be so very out of his comfort zone.

[Aria Hale]

Aria threw a glare at the boy who’d gotten the door. She generally would have been pleased with the opportunity to pick on someone, and pleasantly surprised that her siblings had it in them to do such a thing themselves. But ever since he’d found her that night in the arena and was actually nice to her, Aria had drawn a line - for the first time in her life - at Ryan. No one spoke bad of him around her without her getting up in their face and chewing them out, or just beating them up, whichever came first. He was, after all, the first person she’d ever considered a friend, and that was sort of a big deal. She quickly memorized the boy’s face. He’d so get it later.

And then things got really awkward really fast. Of all the things to say, Ryan had to say that he had come over here to talk to her. Okay, so in hindsight it sort of made sense. Who in their right mind would come to this stupid glow-in-the-dark cabin unless they had to? Though how he knew she was in this cabin she wasn’t sure. She ignored the looked she got, as well as a few snickers, and slid her knife into its sheath, got up, and walked to the door. “Want to go outside?” She glanced back at the campers as if to say ‘away from them’. For obvious reasons, as a good couple eyes were on them now.

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan was still glaring at the boy that had opened the door. His hand twitched to his dagger again; that was it, after this he was so going to get it. Nike may of asked him to try and become nice and against his better judgement, he had agreed. However, he was going to start drawing lines and setting limits for it. He was not, under any circumstances going to be nice to everybody. That would just be way to weird. Yes, he was going to stay himself; for a very long time. Ryan gave a slight exhale, remembering meeting Aria at the beach. That had just resulted them in their natural ways, fighting. The second time, he had met her at the arena. To his half disgust, he had softened; she was completely broken down though. Last time they had seen eachother (was it seriously early this morning?) was by the border line. That time the roles were reversed. Ryan was going off and Aria had sort of softened. Overviewing their history, it was really weird to Ryan.

The demigod knew this was awkward for him. Half of him sort of knew it would be awkward for her. Aw, dang it, why couldn't he just wait until they were both in the arena? He gave himself a mental kick. One thing he knew: he was not coming back to his Cabin unless absolutely forced to. He glared at everyone, gosh he seriously would need to plan better in the future. He nodded as she asked if they would like to go outside. Ryan took one last glance at the Cabin, many people were staring now. Well, whatever; he was used to stares and snickers and everything by now. "If any of you have a problem, you come talk to me," he snarled, glaring at all of them."In range so I can stab you with a dagger," he growled, then walked out. He really wasn't going to be putting up with Sunshine Kids after what had happened during the last few hours.

[Aria Hale]

If there was one thing for sure, it was that this was one of the most uncomfortable things she’d ever done. Sure, she’d play it off as nothing, but she had a sinking feeling she would not see the end of this one. Stupid Apollo dorks. How she wanted to just give them all a nice punch in the face. Maybe that would knock some of the happy-go-lucky sunny crap out of them. For now, though, she’d ignore them. After all, that’s what she had to do most of the time. The good news for her: she didn’t even have to leave her cabin at night to get revenge. Ah, pleasant thoughts. Anyway, back to the task at hand.

Judging by Ryan’s words, he was just about as aware of the attention as she was, and was more or less just as pleased with it. He had the right idea though. If they had a problem, they should speak up, and within arm’s reach. That was the best place to sort out problems, after all. Within weapon range. That aside, she led the way out the door, assuming he’d follow her, then turned once she was satisfied with the several yards separating herself from the cabin. That was about when she realized she had no idea what to say. “Um… what’s up?” Might have sounded stupid, but hey. It got the point across.


((OOC: Sorry that's so short!! >.<))

[Ryan Simons]

Nike holding his hand, kissing him, putting her head on his shoulder and hugging him seemed rather mild compared to this. Ryan would take her physical contact right about now. Asking this girl for help was way more uncomfortable. This had to be the most weirdest, awkwardest, most out of this comfort zone thing ever. He followed her away from the Cabin. Far away, hopefully. If any of them still had a problem, they could come to him, in punching and dagger stabbing range. He was really not in the mood for these stupid Sunshine kids after what had happened during this past week.

Finally they stopped. She turned around and started the conversation. Now things would really start to get awkward. Him asking... this was going to be to weird. Even though he was the independent person and everything, through all his stubbornness, even he knew he'd need help with this. He half gritted his teeth. Better to get this over with than just stumble on himself. He shut his eyes and just blurted it out. "Wouldyouliketogoonaquestwithme?" he asked rather fast. Okay, now that it was out, he'd be able to say it normally... he hoped. This was to weird, he even had half a mind to ditch the whole thing. Forget about having the prospect and possibility of people dying and starting a war and such.

(Its fine ^^)

[Aria Hale]

When Aria turned, the expression on Ryan’s face was almost comical. It was subtle, but considering just the way he was carrying himself seemed to say awkward pretty clearly even to her inability to read anything. It was just so not Ryan. Then again, she’d seen him try to kick her butt, then the next time they met be nice to her, and then the next time break down crying. So the definition of ‘Ryan-like’ wasn’t always clear either. Either way, she was guessing she was not meant to see that little spot of awkwardness. Though if this wasn’t her sole friend she was talking about, as well as if she wasn’t feeling pretty awkward herself, then she’d probably be harassing him to no end right about now.

Unfortunately, that was only the tip of the iceberg. She waited for what felt like a whole minute for him to reply. Was this that hard of a question? He could just be a smart aleck and say something like ‘the sky’ and move on. But instead he looked like he’d rather be taking on every monster in the woods at once by himself right about now. What could honestly be that bad? Then he closed his eyes and said about ten words in the span of less than two seconds. Aria stared for a moment, trying to make sense of the gibberish. “Would I-…what? Maybe… normal speed this time?” It sounded like he had asked her to do something with him, though she hadn’t been able to understand the middle of his speed-talking. But that couldn’t be right. No one ever wanted her around, much less purposefully sought her out for company. And she and Ryan… well, they didn’t always want to kill each other, but they weren’t exactly what normal people would call ‘friends’ either. Was it opposite day or something!?

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan knew he must look really weird. He didn't really know many facial expressions. He knew a nod, head shake and disturbance. The son of Ares was better at vocal expressions. Ryan was half sure that his face was sort of looking how he felt. That was what Ed had told him. Your face reflected what you felt, most of the time, unless you knew how to control your face. Ryan didn't really do that. If anyone ever even cared to observe him in his normal state, then they'd know straight away that he wasn't himself. Aria, however, was sort of different. During the three times that they had bumped into eachother, they were both in different spots. Ryan got the gist that she was sort of like him; normally she was 'I am going to kick your butt,' type, but that was just a guess. Perhaps if Aria wasn't feeling as awkward, she'd be chewing him out. He knew he'd rather be chewing someone out than be here. Right now, he'd take being chewed out.

He said it. Now that he had said it, there was no turning back. Ryan had asked her really fast. He was hoping to the gods that she had gotten it, but that wouldn't make any logic sense. That was confirmed a second later as she asked him to repeat it at normal speed. Okay... oh gods, he'd much rather take all the monsters that ever existed then be asking, normal speed. Well, it was out, so hopefully he wouldn't look like an idiot and stutter all over the place. That hope vanished as soon as he opened his mouth. "Would, would you... like to come on a, on a q-quest?" he asked. ".... with.. with me?" he ended. The Oracle girl told him to pick his 'friends' and people he could count on and trust. She was far from a friend and he was far from trusting anyone (except maybe Nike a tiny fraction of a millimeter), but he did have a tiny fraction of a millimeter respect for her. Ryan wasn't going to trust or get any friends any time soon. However, Aria was one of the people who he was okayish with and he felt like he wasn't going to want to kill every second of the day. Besides that, she had proved to be a good fighter. She could easily be a good aspect to the quest team.

[Aria Hale]

Aria watched Ryan attempt what seemed to be some impossible feat. Gods, wasn’t like he was asking her to dinner and a movie, right? Or at least he better not be or she might punch him. That was just creepy. Whatever it was though, he was taking his dear sweet time figuring out how to say it. Unless it was something ungodly weird like supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, how could someone who could stand up to anything and everything have trouble saying something? Second thought, maybe she didn’t want to know. But she couldn’t exactly be like ‘Hey, nevermind! See ya around!’ and leave. So instead she was stuck with the awkwardness of waiting for him to sort out his words a little slower than last time, which left her to try to figure it out on her own. What would he want to do with her? Maybe it was something simple like training? That would be easy. Not so bad. But since when were things easy?

Well, he seemed to be on a roll with the un-Ryan-like behavior, as the stuttering and stumbling over his words played evidence towards. Wait… a quest? Like the same sort of thing that it seemed only the big important people got to do? And Ryan had one? No offense to him, of course. And… he wanted her to come on it too? It made her almost wish she’d paid a bit more attention to the other demigods around so she might know a little better about how these things worked. Well, it was a nice way to get away from this place, if just for a while, right? And test her training in the real world again, make sure she hadn’t gotten rusty. And, hey, travelling with Ryan didn’t sound so bad. She didn’t know him all that well really, but there wasn’t really anyone she would want to travel with more. Mostly because she couldn’t give half a crap about anyone else and he at least got that much. “Oh, um… sure. Where to?” Guess it would be handy to know where on earth they were headed. Minor details like that.

[Ryan Simons]

Oh gods why did this have to be so hard?! It was almost like him trying to ask her out. Okay, big step back there. One: if he did, he'd be taking so much longer; two: he'd never do that; thee: he'd probably hit himself over the head and mostly likely get slapped by her as well. He'd probably deserve it. Dang, he wished he could control his face more. He also wished he didn't have this stupid prophecy; the demigod did not want to be responsible for someone's life especially if he was going to end up starting a war. Oh, well, he had practically killed two people as well, why not add more to the record? Honesly, Ryan wouldn't blame her if she just turned her back and said 'Whatever, later,'. He was half hoping she'd do it, if that Towards danger and death thing was pointed at her, he'd never live it down. This was so awkward, for both of them. Him for asking and for her, just standing there waiting.

Okay, that didn't go as bad as he thought it would. His un-Ryan like state wouldn't last, he hoped. Now that the asking part was over, he could hopefully resume his old self. One that didn't ask for help and stutter. He sort of hoped that Aria had some idea of what to do. Ryan had never paid attention to the quest things and he had no idea what to do at all. All the Oracle had given him was the prophecy and then had told him to pick people. He hadn't known that he had to pick companions, so that made it all the more awkward. He looked at her and narrowed his grey eyes ever so slightly. "You sure?" he hissed. His negative and snippy response was mostly out of shock that she'd accept so fast and that she didn't take him as a prat or anything because quite frankly, he didn't have the tolerance to put up with anyone right now. Okay, where to. "Don't know," he snarled. Yup, he was back. "The Oracle girl didn't exactly say any where specific," he growled, rolling his eyes. "Just something about searching the ocean."

[Aria Hale]

And the old Ryan vanished faster than he had mysteriously appeared. Mr Stutters-Admitting-He-Might-Need-Help-For-Once-In-His-Life was suddenly snapping and using his much more common rude and annoying tone. “Yeah, I’m sure. You got a problem with that. Unless you’d rather I stay back here, which would be pretty stupid considering you bothered asking me to come.” Rolling her eyes, she fell silent as he continued, still sounding more like he wanted to hack off someone’s head with a dull knife than stand here and discuss a quest. Gods, if he didn’t want her along so badly, why’d he ask? People could be so weird.

“You don’t know. Lovely.” She took a deep breath. “Oracle girl… that’s the annoying red-head who draws on everything and talks stupid, right?” She shrugged. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard her say anything at all specific whatsoever. Then again, I make it a point to avoid her. Anyone who has Sharpie ponies on their pants is seriously messed up.” And then he went and mentioned the ocean.

“Oh, okay. Just searching the ocean? That’s no big deal,” she said sardonically. “Of course I’m sure we don’t get to know which ocean, naturally. That would make things too easy. Wouldn’t want a nice small target like the Pacific Ocean. Atlantic Ocean wouldn’t be too bad either, it’s nice and freakishly huge. Are we supposed to finish this stupid quest before we die of old age?” Then again, maybe that’s why they were giving it to Ryan and, now, Aria: it was no secret around Camp that neither of them were particular liked by… well, anyone. It was perfectly reasonable to guess they could send them on an impossible quest that would take eternity and a half to do just to get them out of the way.

Aria stopped short in her thoughts. Wait, there was one thing she knew about all those weirded out quest things. “Well, am I allowed to know what the prophecy thing says, genius?”

[Ryan Simons]

As soon as he had finished asking, that personality disappeared in nano second. It was replaced with the old him, much to the girl's like or dislike. This situation was sort of like Nike's. One moment he was being sentimental, next he slapped her. Well, that was him, after all. He glared at the girl. "Okay, whatever, just asking, my gods," he snarled. "Yeah, I've got a problem with the danger and death part," he snapped back at her. He crossed his arms. To be honest with himself, he wished they'd both stay here. Not for the Camp, no, no. Just stay here as in don't go on the quest. "Unless you'd rather stay," he growled, glaring at her. "I'm not forcing you to come," he snarled. He still wanted to be anywhere but here. Stupid Oracle Girl, Stupid Quests!

"Yeah, I don't. I have no freaking idea, I'm not the one who spews out the dang prophecies," he snapped at Aria. Like anyone here was straight forward. He snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's the one," he growled. "I don't think she ever has in her life," he growled. "Or anything that makes sense in that matter." Well, he had tried to avoid her every single day of his life at this Camp. Every single day except the day she had given him that prophecy. The day he didn't want to fight and he found her outside of the arena. Reason? He was a bit messed up himself that day.

He rolled his eyes as the girl started to rant about the ridiculous task of figuring out which ocean. "You're the one who said you were fine with this," he growled at her. He snorted. "I'm beginning to think that," he snapped. It was the perfect opportunity to get rid of three Campers that the Camp hated. Ryan was hated here, he had no friends at all; all he was good for was starting fights. But Aria had got him thinking. What ocean? He knew there was on off the Long Island Sound, but that was it. Arctic Ocean? Probably not, unless other gods and monsters could survive below zero weather.

Ryan looked at her and rolled her eyes. "Olympus will open and the sky will pour; a son of Ares will start the war." That part was freaking him out. Either Camp would have a whole new and extreme reason to hate him, it'd be his older 'brother' or one of the god children of Ares, like Eros. "Fire and rain will collide; you must search the ocean wide," he continued, trying to follow it as closely as possible. Last two lines were the worse. "Towards danger and death your quest will go; never forget you reap what you sow." Did he mention he hated this?

[Aria Hale]

As if 5-minutes-ago Ryan hadn’t been bad enough, he seemed to get ten times worse in the span of about half a minute if that. Aria rolled her eyes. He needed anger management classes or something. Then again, she couldn’t really say that because then that would mean she needed them too. Just maybe to a slightly lesser degree. “Alright, alright, untwist your tutu for half a second, will ya? Gods. I told you I’m coming, so just get over it, Mood-Swings. I know you’re not forcing me to come, but I still am, so deal with it.” He seriously sounded like he wanted to take someone’s head off. She was starting to be glad she had her knives on her if it came down to it. What was it about quests that pissed him off so bad?

She rolled her eyes, again, when he continued his snappy ranting. If they were already having insult wars, this quest thing was just going to go absolutely swimmingly, wasn’t it? Which reminded her of something… she didn’t know how to swim. And they were going to an ocean. Lovely. Not that she’d admit that to Ryan, of course. He was acting all tough and all, like she would let him know that she wasn’t just as tough by something as lame as not being able to swim? Not happening. Then again, that made this whole trip seem a little more… as much as she hated to admit it, scary.

“Of course I’m fine with this, Ryan! Gods, get off your high horse!” She crossed her arms and listened as he recited by far the creepiest thing she’d ever heard. Then again, she wasn’t exactly well-versed in different prophecies of various creepy factors. War, raining fire, danger, death… and agriculture? Okay, so the last bit was weird, but hey. The rest at least sounded way creepy. “Well, okay then. Guess we better get ready.”

[Ryan Simons]

Ryan exhaled, trying in the very slightest to get a grip on his temper. True, he sort of did need to work on not going from one mood to another in less than five seconds. He looked at her. Tutu...? He was seriously beginning to hate his aunt. She thought she had taught him a lot. She hadn't taught him anything useful, like things in the outside world. Ryan wasn't sure what tutu meant, but he was guessing it was a phase meant to tell him to calm down. "Okay, whatever," he growled. Okay, fine, she was coming. That was settled. Well, this quest would be interesting...

Two of the things in the prophecy that were scaring him most: One, he may start a war. That would lead to practically everyone in the world hating him; not that he cared about everyone hating him, he was already far to used to it. The reason it scared him was that other people may... no, the prophecy said war for goodness sakes, were going to die because of him. Two: The ocean. The lake. Any water source. He remembered while meeting up with Kaycee the water nymph, near the lake and while meeting with Reena the demigod by the lake, Ryan had always kept his distance from the bank. If he went near the water, he sort of panicked. Reason? He had no idea how to swim. Kath had never taught him, there was no water source for him to learn where he had been living with her. And she thought she had taught him a good amount of necessities. Ryan was beginning to think swimming was a necessity. An evil thought popped up to his mind. What if Kath couldn't swim either? One way to get rid of her could be to drown her! Gah, focus... quest. The only water source he had in that freak of a house had been the bathtub and the sink, the end. If he or someone else went overboard, he wouldn't be able to help them, or himself for that matter. His stomach sank slightly. This was going to go great; water, insult wars, starting wars, how much better could it get?

He rolled his eyes. "Fine then," he growled, shrugging. A slightly confused look flickered over his face. Horse...? Oh, yeah, those were the things with the four long legs, sometimes mortals rode on them. He had seen a picture once or twice. He silently cursed out Kath; why the Hades had she made him grow up under a rock?! Get ready? The prophecy was still freaking him out. The last two lines were weird, but if he remembered, Kath had sort of told him that type of phrase once, and he didn't think she meant it for planting a field. Oh, right. "Yeah," he said, shrugging. "Bye," he said, turning his back and starting towards his Cabin to pick up the few things he possessed. Another set of clothes, put most simply. Everything else, he was already carrying with him: his weapons.