[New Olympus] Wilds

[Apollymi]

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4422/36321523096_8dae83375c_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/XkBioQ)

The tiered mountain that exists known as New Olympus is surrounded by a dense woodlands full of flora and fauna the likes of which mortals have never seen. This area is known as the 'Wilds' which some of the more battle hungry and the less civilized of the New Olympians visit often to separate themselves from the general buzz of the more populous areas. The 'Wilds' are gorgeous dense and aren't navigable by mortals so it is among the places that the less humanoid of the New Olympians can appear. It is also the place where the hunters of the New Olympians can be found preying upon the naturally spawned creatures there.

[Bloodedge]

Early one morning, less than an hour past dawn, the wilds was inhabited by a lone, blonde male with blue eyes. This adolescent male wielded a golden bow with a string made of light, and while he did not have a quiver, there was an arrow loaded into the bow. The arrow was also made of pure light, and it had a head which looked as if it were made of diamond. Before he took a shot, he clicked his tongue. A flash of light erupted from the arrow as he released his hold of it, and it flew rapidly toward and into the face of an onlooking elk. It seemed to have been blinded and frozen in place by the light flash, keeping it still enough for the shot to reach its target perfectly.

[Apollymi]

Deianira had reached the wilds in record time, but it seemed she wasn't alone. An elk was soon blinded and killed with an amount of precision that she could respect, and she looked over to see her fellow hunter was none other than a blonde young man with bright blue eyes. "That's impressive Aiolia, I should have known if anyone else would be out at this hour, it'd be you~" the happy huntress mentioned, sheer bliss seeming to radiate from her person. It was rare for her to find anyone else while she was out on these long excursions in the wilderness, but this young man was one of the few whose talents she could appreciate. A low whistle left the young woman's mouth as she called her hunting companions to her. And soon enough a pair of white wolf cubs would come bounding through the woods, nipping at each others legs as they headed for their mistress.

[Bloodedge]

After his arrow pierced the elk's skull, the young man apparently known as Aiolia had it reappear in his right hand via some means akin to teleportation. He turned his head when approaching the fallen creature to see the source of a voice that spoke his name. "Oh. Good morning, Deianira. You know me; up and down with the sun," he said. Aiolia was a demigod with an interesting habit of being back into his confines by dusk. In actuality, this was due to a well-kept secret about his lack of abilities when the sun didn't shine. "I figured you'd be gone a bit longer, but I'm just finishing up anyway. The wilds are all yours now. How was the party? Everyone have fun?"

[Apollymi]

"Of course~" she said seeming to find amusement in the young demigod's habits. Of course, it was a bit strange to invite him to parties given his predisposition for not being anywhere but home when the sun went down. She remembered throwing an afternoon mixer once which he attended and didn't seem to have a problem with. "I probably would have been, but I didn't party too hard myself last night~ Everyone else took care of that for me, they had a blast. Well almost everyone..." she said taking a moment to think about it, she could surely say the happiness levels in the people at her compound were about what she expected from a group of newcomers introduced to her for the first time but... "I threw that party for the newest people here. It was invite only, but someone didn't show up, Albafica says I'm losing my touch... but it's strange. I can't remember ever having someone not show up on an invite..." she said as the white and black wolf pups Lethe and Styx seemed to rest at her side preparing for their day with her. "But I'm out and about now, and a good hunt will clear my head. If you're headed back in... as a warning, Albafica is at my place, getting... acquainted with the new demigods," she said with a bit of a smirk. She couldn't imagine being like everyone else and having the uncontrollable desire to jump that man, but... she wasn't judging he was after all the most attractive of Aphrodite's children on New Olympus.

[Bloodedge]

"Someone didn't show up for one of your parties? That's something I never thought I'd hear. I don't think I've ever had more fun than I have at your place," Aiolia commented after recovering from a brief moment of shock. Afterwards, he seemed taken aback by another matter; something he had to consider for a few seconds. "You know, now that I think about it... I saw some weird kid with a snake and an eye patch over by the lake earlier. I haven't seen him around here before, so I'm guessing he's the new guy who didn't show." As he spoke, Aiolia grew closer to his slain elk. Soon enough, he was grabbing it by the antlers and dragging it along behind him as he made his way toward New Olympus. "Thanks for the warning; I'll steer clear of Dionysus' house for a bit. Happy hunting!"

[Shuren]

“That’s where he is then?” A voice came from some distance; sounding rather satisfied that he had obtained a piece of information after having listened the duo for a while. “Good.” The source of the voice made himself visible by stepping aside from the trunk he had been leaning on. With a loud noise of crackling thunder, he ran past Aiolia and Deianira and didn’t stop until he arrived at the lake. Once there, he waited for a moment to come up with a way to drag his target out. It didn’t take him long to come up with something; in a quick motion he started to run on the lake in a circular fashion. This eventually created a water cyclone that pulled everything towards its center. Though for his target it wouldn’t be a problem. He was the son of the ruler of the oceans, after all.

[Apollymi]

"Right? I just don't know how to feel about it," the young woman said. It was still very strange to her that any wouldn't attend a party she was throwing, but that was fine, she supposed since this young man had at least seen him before, she'd get the chance. "Eye patch, snake, weird... Thanks for the in..." she paused, another male voice joined the fray and the way he was dressed made the young woman quizzical. "That's...." soon enough that man was running past them at speeds she couldn't even begin to fathom. Her eyes widened and then a gleeful burst would radiate from the young woman's person. "HERMES!~ That's so cool, one of his kids was at the party last night, his outfit was a bit different though..." she said seemingly satisfied with the information she had. Having been wished a happy hunting the young woman crossed an arm over her chest and bowed to the young man. "Thanks, have a good day. Let me know if you ever want a drink~" she said to Aiolia as she soon departed in the same direction as the messenger god, albeit at a much slower pace.

[Bloodedge]

Before Aiolia could take his leave properly, another presence became clear in the vicinity. Aiolia's eyes narrowed and shifted, only to widen as a sudden gust in the wake of this deity's movements caused his hair to billow, and the elk to be pulled from his grasp. He turned around with the intention of seeing the culprit of these rapid movements, but by the time he did, there was nothing to be seen. Without a proper view, he was only given an answer to his unasked query by the outburst of Deianira. "Hermes!? What could he possibly be doing here?" he wondered aloud. Of course, Deianira would soon be following suit, but Aiolia had his own agenda he needed to see to.

Soon, the waters of the lake were being forced into a cyclone which seemed to quickly draw in, for some reason, bedding and other household items from the bottom of the lake. Another figure was quickly moving around inside; it was humanoid in appearance, and suddenly emerged in a small torrent which led to the other side of a large rock at the water's edge. This figure was none other than Athos, the white-haired child of Poseidon. Following his emergence, he curled up behind the mossy stone, if for no other reason than to hide from whomever, or whatever caused his home in the lake to be disrupted.

[Shuren]

“There you are.” Watching Athos emerge from the water and seemingly hide behind a mossy stone, Hermes slowed down and, for a short while, ran in the opposite direction he had been running until now. Once the cyclone was neutralized, the boy’s home returned to its regular state. This was when the messenger god appeared next to the kid, on his side. He was standing several meters away from him, but he knew that was fine. He had never taken Athos for a social type. “I have been looking for you, kid.” he said. His tone was calm, even though his suit was constantly flickering with sparks. He turned around and took several steps away from the boy, not bothering to form eye contact. “I heard Poseidon wanted you dead.” he muttered. That was the reason why he was there. Despite knowing that Athos was Poseidon’s child, he preferred to address him with his name directly. After all, it wouldn’t be a very good idea to refer to him as father when he wanted to eliminate his son.

[Apollymi]

Deianira stalked through the wilds with all the precision of a trained hunter. She seemed to move rather fluidly taking note of the distrubances which had occurred throughout the wildlife. 'I suppose it'd be rude to interrupt a meeting between a god and a kid, regardless... I suppose, I'll have a stroll down the river and see if I can't put it off for a while...' she thought. And with that she took a bit of a detour though she'd be rather happy with her two pups in tow. Noting they'd been left behind she slowed her pace a bit more and allowed them to catch up. 'You two are getting sluggish, you should run around more. You know instead of gorging yourselves on meat while I am gone and lazing about~' she mentioned to the pups which made both of them nod. 'Aww, don't be like that.' said the white haired wolf pup. 'Yeah, we don't gorge ourselves all the time... only most of the time.' the black haired pup joined in before both began drinking directly from the river. 'Oh... just stopping for a water break already, fine... I'll join you...' she mentioned scooping clear water into her hands turning it into liquor and taking a sip of it as if it was the best thing in the world.

[Bloodedge]

Athos had hidden himself in a way that he'd hoped would keep him out of sight due to the distraction caused by the cyclone, but he hadn't considered the idea of a god being the one disturbing his shelter. Hermes appeared to his side, and though some distance was kept, Athos seemed no more comfortable than he had been in prior moments. After expressing that he had been seeking the lad, Hermes mentioned the sea god, Poseidon, and the clause that the latter wished for Athos' death. When this was said, Athos withdrew into the shell of his fetal position even further, turning his head away from the god as if he were nervous for some reason. "..." The slightest utterance came from the young male's throat. It had no resemblance to words; instead, it sounded more like a tiny whimper of sorts, as if he wished to start speaking, but changed his mind before his mouth even opened. With that, Athos' head sank into his raised knees, which were gripped firmly in his arms.

[Shuren]

The boy seemed to be at a loss of words. Not only was he unable to speak, he had also changed his position, signifying his troubled and damaged mind. It wasn’t easy after all; a father wanting to kill his son. Hermes felt like he would be unable to carry out such an act. Not because he was full of compassion though; he simply lacked the required conviction to put an end to his offsprings’ lives. In an instant he moved to the opposite side of where he stood, so the boy would be facing him again.“I know Poseidon. He is quite stubborn. You can be sure he won’t stop until he gets what he wants. Even though I doubt you gave him enough reasons for that.” He finished his sentence quickly, as if he was murmuring an unnecessary piece of information. “But don’t worry.” Following that, he turned around and made the effort to look the boy in the eye for the first time since his arrival. “You see kid, I have a plan. Not only will it save you, it will also take care of your problem permanently.”

[Apollymi]

As the messenger god continued to prod at the obviously anti-social son of Poseidon, Deianira found herself drinking instead of hunting. Her previous thoughts for a quick drink and then moving on, seemed to be replaced by the idea that she was having a bit of fun now. She played with the two pups at the river side, dipping her hand into the water and ever so often, pulling it up to pour golden liquid into her mouth while fending off the affections and play of her two companion animals. Though they weren't yet absolute hunters, they were good fun and playful loving companions for the young woman who seemed to need them a lot more than one would initially think. 'I should have done this way earlier, I could have had great fun~' she thought. 'We should go swimming!~' said one of the pups, the other immediately jumped into the water instead of offering a reply. Deianira instead of trying to move from this spot, committed to a quick bout of skinny dipping with her pets, stripping down to absolute nudity before jumping into the river after he pets.

[Bloodedge]

Despite Athos' unwillingness to talk, Hermes persisted. This resolve showed itself when the god appeared within Athos' gaze once more, causing the boy's visible eye to widen with shock before quickly being forced to a very tight close for some strange reason. Still, the messenger god shared his thoughts. Though the son of Poseidon had no intentions of interacting with anyone when it could be avoided, there seemed to be no avoiding this particular exchange. Whatever this "plan" of Hermes' was, he figured he would be hearing it whether he wanted to or not. As such, his mouth opened ever so slightly, and out came an incredibly soft, somewhat emotion-ravaged voice. "What... do you want from me?"

[Shuren]

“Now I have your attention. Good.” thought Hermes, noticing the tightly closed eyes of the boy. He was listening to his words now. It was hard for him, sure, but perhaps he had realized there was no way out of this. “Poseidon is an obstacle standing in my way. I need to take him out. Yet, his domain is slightly out of my reach.” explained the messenger god after hearing the boy speak. “That’s where you come in, kid.” he continued. Of course, this was only a tiny bit of his entire plan to overthrow Zeus and replace him. But as long as his supporters stood tall, he wouldn’t be able to do so. Hermes took several steps towards the white haired boy, and crouched. “I want you to close that gap.”

[Apollymi]

The naked girl seemed to be enjoying her drunken swim about as much as anyone could expect. To be fair, it seem that she would have been enjoying herself regardless of the situation but as she and her puppies got in a much needed bath it seemed the Son of Poseidon was having a very different time. Though Deianira didn't know it, she seemed to be quite amused. 'Alright, I'm going under for a few seconds, enjoy your swims~' she chimed to her pets. As the young woman dove underneath the surface she opened her eyes to have a look at the floor of the small river and at the bottom she saw a small glowing object. Such a thing was rather strange so she went further down, her aim solely to pull it up and examine it. If she succeeded she would pull from the bottom a conch shell. 'These aren't native to here...' she thought, as she held her breath staring at it underwater.

[Bloodedge]

When Hermes spoke of Poseidon's domain being out of reach, Athos fell under the assumption that he spoke of Atlantis. The location was familiar to him; he'd spent a portion of his childhood living there, prior to being cast into the mortal realm. Even with his eyes closed, Athos could tell the god was moving closer to him. The voice he heard was ever so slightly louder. Athos shivered as he felt the chill of close proximity with that which he could not see, but he dared not open his eye while knowing someone would be looking at him when he did. "... Fine. Just... leave me be," he said with a quiver of his throat occurring as his sentence began and ended.

[Shuren]

Seeing that the white haired boy was beyond disturbed by his presence getting closer, Hermes stood up and took a step back. “I’ll take your word for it.” he said slowly, while examining his body. It was hard to believe that a body that seemed so fragile to him contained great power within. Maybe he could even make him a god one day. Who knew. “I give you this, a gift of my good intentions.” he moved his hand towards chest, and a portion of his suit opened up. He pulled out a bag and sealed the opening again. “A satchel that has a bigger interior than the exterior.” He laid the satchel on the ground carefully before turning around, ready to run. But before doing so he addressed the boy one last time. “Don’t forget… The Furies hate oath-breakers.” That said he vanished from sight. That was of course, until he reappeared where Deianira was. She was swimming, somewhat drunk and clearly naked. Though he only wanted to alert her that he was and had been aware of her presence. So after glancing at her for a short moment, he sped off and left the lake.

[Apollymi]

By the time the young raven haired lass emerged she was looking directly at Hermes the messenger god. She had no idea how long he'd been standing there, nor how much he knew about her current state, but she could only smile and wave happily at the man as he soon enough disappeared from sight. "Damn, I was going to ask him to say hi to Daddy for me~" she chimed, her nudity didn't seem to bother her in the least, nor did she care if anyone knew about her drunken state. After all, she was the child of Dionysus, she might as well be a bit like her father from time to time. Moving right along the girl now held this conch shell in her hand and stared at it a bit. Her drunken mind trying to put together something... 'Oh, that new kid, the one who didn't show up to my party....' she started only to have the two wolf pups circle around her... 'I wonder if this belongs to him?' she asked herself. 'Probably...' the white pup said seeming not to care one way or the other... 'I think I just found my introductory gift~' she chimed as she danced happily pulling herself out of the water intending to redress. It took a few minutes as her abject drunkenness reached the state of a light buzz as she pieced together buckles on her clothing as if this wasn't the first time she'd had to do so while intoxicated. Even so, she soon began walking along the river the two pups in two after both of them shook themselves dry... she was headed up stream and becoming more and more sober by the second.

[Bloodedge]

Prior to his departure, Hermes not only left Athos with some sort of parting gift to solidify their agreement, but also a few parting words. He'd heard stories of these Furies, and none were at all pleasant. Still, the white-haired lad would do anything to be left in peace. Slight interaction with Hermes could lead to not worrying about Poseidon, and that would leave him to his own devices for as long as he alone could manage.

Once Hermes was nowhere to be seen, Athos gazed upon the satchel on the ground. It was small, brown, and rather simple-looking for the artifact of a deity. He reached out to take it, only to pull it into his chest and hold it there as he sat in silence. The only thing to break this silence was the clinking of various chains and jewelry pieces worn by Athos as his arm moved to retrieve the satchel, though this was short-lived. 'Where are you, Invi?'

[Apollymi]

Deianira walked straight up the path along the water's edge as her two pups played and she thought about the kind of life one must have had to choose to stay in the wilds for days without even trying for human interaction. 'I mean, I've met shy people before... it's usually just a matter of getting to know them right?' she thought as her thoughts sobered up. As she approached the lake she soon found that the speed of the water was getting a bit firmer, as it tended to do near the source material. As she walked she'd been staring at the conch shell in her hand, wondering about it's abilities and thus the abilities of the demigod who possessed it. 'I wonder what he'll be like~' an air of excitement surrounded the child of Dionysus as she moved forward approaching the vast expanse of the lake but not seeing anyone in particular.

[Bloodedge]

While wondering the location of this "Invi" he had in his thoughts, Athos held his tongue between his teeth. A hushed, snake-like hiss escaped him thereafter. He spoke in the tongue of the snakes themselves. "Come back, Invi," he said. This prompted the descent of a large, albino serpent from a nearby tree. The snake slithered toward the boy behind the rock after reaching the ground, and upon reaching him, it coiled up in front of his resting body. Unlike with Hermes, Athos seemed to have no problem looking this snake in the eye as they sat together.

[Apollymi]

Deianira stood at the lake's edge confused, only to hear a hushed snake like hiss. What followed this was the descent of the white snake mentioned earlier by Aiolia. 'Ah, that must be where he is...' she thought, seeming that this boy wasn't in plain sight and hadn't even tried showing up to her party. She didn't want to spook him and would take the same approach she'd take to approaching a potentially spooked animal. Very slow and decisive steps around the lake would take her towards the moss covered rock where the young boy sat with his pet. "Good morning to you both... I think... you dropped this sometime~" she said holding before her the conch shell she'd found down stream. She didn't approach any further and chose instead to give a studied gaze to both the boy and his pet.

[Bloodedge]

Soon after his snake friend returned to him, Athos was visited by yet another person today. This one did not have the scent of a god, but instead the feint godly aura of a demigod. Athos counted three today now. One of the demigods had not bothered him, but this one made an even closer approach than the previous. She bore a conch shell that she assumed belonged to him, and though she was right, Athos turned his head away without a word. He curled up further, and the serpent Invi struck out with the intention of snatching up the conch shell and swallowing it whole. In the meantime, Athos himself slipped back into the lake, where he would swim all the way to the bottom and into a hole which led to his chosen place of residency.

[Apollymi]

At the moment the snake struck Deianira realized she could have stopped it, though not without hurting it, so the conch was swallowed up from her hand in that moment. Regardless of this point, the young demigod who she'd assumed rightly that the conch had belonged to, disappeared into the lake soon after. Not a word being spoken by him after this. "Wow, I just said hi... is he really okay, like that?" she asked directly of the snake. Maintaining the ability to speak to any animal she came across without it being any real issue. "Also, it's been a while since I last spoke to a snake, it's nice to meet you~" she chimed, as a person Deianira always had the best of intentions, she'd wanted to make friends with the newest edition to their community of demigods, but it seemed like that process would be quite slow going.

[Bloodedge]

Now that Athos was gone, Invi was left to finish swallowing the conch shell. This took several moments, but during that time, Deianira spoke to the snake as if she expected to understand any response given. A long hiss would form the serpent's retort. "You can speak to us, too? You're not like us, though. Who are you?" the snake asked. As for Athos, his apparent companion slithered onto the rock they previously sat behind, finding the words to explain. "We stay away from other people. He says it's not good if he talks to anyone."

[Apollymi]

"Of course, I can speak to any animal," she said with a smile she took it as a sign she could at least expect a bit of conversation from this companion animal if not actually from the young lad himself for whatever reason. She took a seat at the lake side and propped a fist up under her chin so she could chat. "I'm Deianira, daughter of Dionysus and Artemis' Blessed Huntress. If you're wondering why speaking with you is possible, who might you be?" she mentioned when asked who she was, because she obviously was nothing like the snake or maybe even the boy at the lake bottom. As the snake got comfortable, it went on to explain that the lad himself thought it was bad if he spoke to people and that they kept to themselves for this reason. "Oh? That must be why he didn't come to my party then..." she seemed to be in deep thought about it, she was a bit disturbed by the idea that another demigod seemed to think it bad if he spoke to anyone. "That's gotta be hard on him though... being alone like that. Even with a charmer like you to keep him company~" she said to the snake finding it to be a good companion in the same way her pups were. "I didn't mean to stress him out or anything, usually people are happy to see me, but... I get it. He doesn't want to talk," she said looking at the creature as if in deep thought.

[Bloodedge]

"Oh... I see," Invi said of why Deianira could speak to her without the use of Serpent's Tongue. Following the demigod's introduction, the snake slithered into a coil once more. "My brother named me Invi. I remember hearing about some party last night. It sounded scary," she said. An additional glance toward the lake came before any further statements. "He's very talkative most days. It's just people he doesn't get along with. He's had bad experiences with humans before, and it's all been pretty traumatizing."

[Apollymi]

"Invi? Nice name~" she said admiring the snake for many reasons other than its very interesting coloration. She was an interesting individual one which Deianira obviously didn't mind speaking with. It seemed the white snake had indeed heard about the party which the child of Dionysus had held in honor of the newest members, but had thought it to be some sort of scary event. "Scary? No, nothing like that, a few drinks, dancing, music, and a few party games. It was a fun little mixer. Got all the newest demigods introduced to each other, and our way of life here. To be honest my feelings were a little hurt when I found out someone hadn't come, but... I can understand if you thought it was going to be scary, baby steps are key~" she chimed seeming to find it to be alright that this duo had skipped out on her party due to the fear they held about people in general. Hearing that the young boy was traumatized by bad experiences with humans caused only sympathy in the raven haired lass. "Oh? I'm sorry to hear that, I understand how stuff like that can stick with you... a lot of us have had experiences like that," she said knowing it to be truth, demigods and mortals weren't always meant to mix happily, especially when the demigods in question had powers or forms which made them too different or too incomprehensible to mortals.

As this conversation progressed the young woman seemed to be enjoying herself, but didn't want to overuse her hospitality. As such she soon rose, and stretched giving a bow to the snake before her. "I thank you for speaking with me Invi, it was a pleasure. I'll tell you what, since your brother doesn't really like people too much, I'll leave you be. I'm not pushy enough to force him to talk to me. But... I'll come back tomorrow. He doesn't have to talk to me if he doesn't want to, but I figure... if he needs an ear, I'll be here. And of course, we can chat again too, if you'd like~" she said offering a smile to the snake. "It's part of my job to protect the Wilds, as such if you have any trouble let me know. Also there is another hunter around here, Aiolia, blonde boy uses a bow, he's nice too... but he usually only appears when the sun is up, in case he'd rather avoid being seen~" she said coming up from a bow and turning on her heels the two pups following along after lazily napping throughout the conversation. "See ya' tomorrow~" and just like that, she left, to go attend to her duties in the wilds. Such conversations would take place on a daily basis for a week or two without change.

[Bloodedge]

Two weeks later, as Deianira and Invi conversed once more, it seemed Athos was not at home for a change. He had gone off to take care of a few errands and make a discovery or two. Now, though, he was returning early in the morning, under shroud of what darkness remained as the sun began to warm the Earth's surface from the horizon. As he approached the lake, he hissed to call for Invi. "Invi, where are you? I know what I need!" he said. On his path, he scanned the woods left and right. He'd known the demigod who saw him last had been reappearing over the past couple of weeks, but little did he know, she had been conversing with Invi all along.

[Apollymi]

Deianira was indeed around again, this time she sat near the edge of the lake right before sunrise. She'd just come off her own hunt, and was presently standing over the carcass of some large beast which looked a bit like an elk, but one of greater muscle than one would expect of a creature such as that. "Oh, yeah, Invi~ I brought ya' something. I know how snakes like to warm themselves after a meal, and since the sun is almost up~" the young woman produced a large rodent which looked a bit like a chipmunk or a large mouse. Surprisingly enough it didn't seem at all worried and was quite happy. "Don't worry, I only dosed it a little so it won't run, it won't make you drunk anything. Well, unless you wanna be drunk, I could force it to drink more~" she said placing the offering of a slightly drunken rodent before the albino snake she'd befriended in the stead of the young man whom she'd originally tried to befriend in the first place.

[Bloodedge]

"Did you? How considerate," the large snake hissed. She sat upon the very same rock she'd been upon during the first meeting with this particular demigod; it could be considered her basking stone of choice, in a way. With the rodent placed before her, Invi's jaw unhinged, and bared fangs sank into the prey's flesh without a moment of unnecessary hesitation. A few additional movements forced the creature down Invi's throat, until her mouth was able to close properly again. It was then that she heard the call of Athos. "I've never been drunk, but I don't think now is the time. He's back," she said. As if on cue, Athos stepped into view from around a tree that obscured his otherwise straightforward path. While he intended to continue forward, he saw another individual in Invi's presence. It was that girl again. Athos paused briefly, turning his head away when he started walking around the two to approach his lake. En route, he hissed a few additional words with the intention of having them reach Invi's ear. "I can't believe you. You're the one that's been keeping her around here?"

[Apollymi]

"Aww, it was nothing. Can't let a friend go hungry, especially not when I'm about to give feast to everyone else," she said, having the full intention of dragging this particular beast back to her lonely cabin in the woods and dressing it properly before leaving it as offering to rest of the children on New Olympus. Meat wasn't really hard to come by for her, and she didn't like to waste anything and knew when she killed this one she wouldn't be able to eat it all herself. She then got to watch as the albino snake consumed its meal. Only to watch as it seemed to finish in record time and mention that her brother was back and looking for her. "Oh well, some other time then, you'll let me know if you change your mind right?" she said offering the snake a wink. Over the couple of weeks she'd been visiting with this snake, the boy the serpent spent most of its time with, still hadn't warmed up to her. At this point, Deianira wasn't holding out much hope for him. He turned his head away and headed for his lake once more which only made the young woman chuckle just a bit as he seemed to have something in passing to say to his snake companion. "You know, I'm not coming here just to talk to her. She's just the only one who seems to enjoy my company~" she said, hinting at the fact that she always knew what the lad said aloud to his sister snake while she was in their presence.

[Bloodedge]

"Of course. If I'm willing to try something new, I'll let you know right away," was the last thing Invi said prior to Athos' return. When Athos spoke to his serpentine "sibling" of sorts, he thought he did so in a way that would not be understood by anyone else. Deianira's speech proved this to be an inaccurate train of thought, as she spoke in response to what he'd so recently said. Athos' eye widened, but did not shift toward the female demigod. He did, however, speak with a human tongue for the first time in ages. "You... speak Snake Tongue?"

[Apollymi]

A quick nod came from the daughter of Dionysus, she was glad to have at least someone trying new things every once in a while. She'd come to find the albino snake companion of one of the newest demigods to be one of the most personable companion pets aside from her own. After which she was in for quite the surprise as it seemed her words to the still unknown lad brought about something from him she wasn't sure he had, his voice. Surprise moved across the young woman's face as her head tilted in his direction. "Oh? There's actually a voice in there, that's good~ I was starting to wonder..." she said thinking of the best way to answer his question, a small smile came to her face. "Yep, snake, boar, elk, wolf, human... I speak all animal languages~ Though I don't often get to speak to snakes, so I was enjoying my chats with Invi while waiting to see if you'd come around. I'm Deianira, by the way, nice to meet you~" the young woman said as she paused seeing how this moment had finally come she couldn't well just drag away her most recent prey until she was sure this young demigod was done speaking.

[Bloodedge]

"... Oh." For whatever reason, the white-haired boy seemed saddened by the knowledge that Deianira spoke not just to snakes, but any animal she chose to converse with. He had made an assumption about her when she understood his earlier hissing, but that train of thought was crushed by this new information. The son of Poseidon's body trembled ever so slightly and briefly, and he seemed to gain some small amount of tension as his head turned away further. He'd seen a beacon, but its light was false. Now, all he could do was wonder what this girl had been doing here for so long, if she wasn't what he'd initially thought. "What... What do you want with us? We just want to be left alone."

[Apollymi]

Deianira watched as the white haired boy seemed saddened for some reason. She couldn't quite pinpoint it, but she was rather happy just the same, and for several different reasons. The first of which was simply because she was always happy, the second was a bit more hidden than that... Still, the young man finally spoke up he seemed to just be distraught by her presence. Of course, she sort of expected this, given her chats with Invi she knew this lad wasn't all together trusting but given the words straight from his own mouth she could only shake her head from left to right. "I don't want anything at all. Like I told Invi the day we met. I'm not pushy enough to make you talk to me, so you don't have to if you don't want to. But getting used to new places is hard on people, so if you decided you wanted to talk I'd be around. I spend more time in the Wilds than anyone else, well aside from you now, since you live out here~" she said with the normal amount of conviction she seemed to possess. "Besides, I don't often get to talk to snakes~"

[Bloodedge]

"You've been here for two weeks. You're saying you were here just to talk?" Athos asked, though he didn't seem all too interested in whatever response would come. He was among the newest residents of New Olympus, and thought himself to be the only inhabitant of this wooded area for some time; however, he was now being told this was not the case, as Deianira apparently frequented this location more than he would have liked. This information was quite disturbing to the son of Poseidon, making him wish to immediately relocate himself and the serpent Invi to avoid further contact with this demigod. "I can't talk to people. I'll find somewhere else to live."

[Apollymi]

Deianira smiled at this young man's comments, he seemed to have some problem with the idea that she was around just to talk, and didn't seem to understand what she meant by her words. He even went so far as to say that he'd simply leave the area then, because he was incapable of talking to people. "You're not hearing me, I said, I was around in case you wanted to talk~ My hunting cabin is way too far out for me to take this route for my own amusement, well... unless I wanted to go swimming," she mentioned seeming to find the young man's need to move a bit problematic. "Do what you want, but you don't have to move... since you've been here I've kind of been redirecting the Wilds around you... you know to respect your privacy~ I don't actually live here, I hunt here and protecting this place is my job. So as long as you're here, you're included," the young woman said, as she shifted her grip on her prize for the day and prepared to leave. "For the record, I think you've done a fine job talking to a person~ And if you're going to move, I'd suggest your parent's house... it would save you some trouble decorating since they're made for their children~"

[Bloodedge]

"A fisherman doesn't cast his line repeatedly because the fish want to be caught," the boy said as his head turned away further. He didn't care much for Deianira's reason in hanging around so long, nor did he care that she had been redirecting the wildlife of this location to offer him privacy from the animals. His only concern was solitude, and he could not have a sensation of that while knowing someone knew his location. This made things especially bothersome for the male when he was told he could stay in his parental deity's dedicated location in New Olympus. Athos seemed shocked at first, but this quickly became an expression of disinterest again. "I... can't stay there. It wouldn't be good. I..." He paused, addressing a different subject. He couldn't lie; being in this place alone was hindering his progress. There was another place he would much rather have gone, and he intended to return. On the other hand, he would not be able to do so without meeting a certain requirement. As such, he chose to swallow his inhibitions if only for long enough to seek aide in gaining the thing he required. "... I need a weapon."

[Apollymi]

When the boy finally spoke again, it was a contradictory anecdote about fishing. This statement initially gave Deianira a bit of a pause but when she thought about it more, a giggle escaped her. "If you say so, I am not much of a fisherman myself. I'll take your word for it~" she said seeming to be in good spirits, having managed to get more than a few passing words out of the lad on her first attempt, which is something she wasn't sure was going to work out in the first place. She'd had two weeks to ponder this lad's existence and she still wasn't sure of anything about him, the combination of things he did, made it impossible for her to guess at his parentage and she hadn't been the type to pry about it when speaking to Invi. Thus the young man was shrouded in mystery which only seemed to deepen when his face shifted at the idea of living in his parental deity's home. The disinterest soon returned and the young man actually furthered his explanation.

"Uh...huh... If you say so..." there were a couple of kids who didn't like their parents houses, mostly it was sibling related disputes and the like which made them unhappy, but this one made it sound like it was something else entirely. The next thing he said left the young woman a bit stunned her head leaning ever so slightly to the left. "You..." a pause came. "Need a weapon? I assume you don't just mean a normal one... I'd suggest one of two things, though both are a bit dangerous," she said seeming to think about it a bit more while offering up an honest opinion. "Completing a trial or entering into a pact with a specific god or goddess can grant the person who does it a mythical or powerful weapon. Though, those usually come at a great cost. I got my bow on such an agreement," she said. "Or you could go to Lemnos and roll the dice on finding the Smith God in a good mood. I've heard it's possible to get a weapon directly from him if you get the materials for it and he feels like doing stuff, if you want to try that route." she said coming off the information without much problem as it was one of many things talked about between the children on New Olympus.

[Bloodedge]

Taking the hit to his own methods proved immediately beneficial to Athos. He was given not one, but two methods of obtaining a powerful weapon of some sort. While neither of these options were very appealing to the lad, one involved potentially dealing with multiple individuals, while the other only required him to address one god who'd been virtually shunned by the others. This was the most reasonable route, and with that in mind, he chose to set out immediately. Without speaking another word to the huntress, he readied the satchel granted to him by Hermes, turned away, and began walking out of the wilds of New Olympus.

[Apollymi]

"You're welcome~" she chimed to Athos who'd left without even offering thanks for the information he likely wouldn't have known how to find. Once the young man took his leave of the Wilds Deianira smirked. She had no idea which method he'd choose to use, but she was happy to help unlike most. A yawn would escape the young woman but she moved on from that, dragging along her prey back to the hunting cabin built for her several miles across the forest. Once there she dressed the animal. Skinning it and chopping it up in several different cuts which she wrapped and put into cold storage within the cabin which she intended to present to the masses of New Olympus a bit before dinner time. Soon after she found herself stripping out of her soiled clothing leaving it in random heaps of strips and leather all across the floor taking down her hair pin before settling into the warm silence of this place and taking a rest just as the sun reached its proper crest. A large goblet beside the hammock she intended to sleep in filled at her touch. 'Woo... busy day, but progress~' she thought as she drank to her own successes no matter how minor they were, before climbing into the hammock naked to swing herself into a gentle sleep. She'd sleep here for a great amount of time, unless something happened to wake her.

[Bloodedge]

Roughly 2.5 days after the departure of Athos, the recently disheartened lad came wandering through the wilds once more. He had hopes of receiving a tool from Hephaestus to further his personal goals, but the plan had gone awry due to his inability to properly converse with the god. While this was quite the bane, Athos was only really reduced to the life he'd been living for a couple of weeks now. As such, he made his way toward the lake he'd made a home of, with nothing to show for his efforts.

[Apollymi]

Having already passed the lake for the day, and finding no one there when she did, Deianira instead made her way towards her cabin. This had been several hours before the arrival of the demigod Athos' whose name she still didn't know. She wondered what kind of adventure his trip would have led him on, and wished he was a tiny bit more friendly so she could be entertained by any possible stories he had. While she thought this over, she fell asleep in her hammock in her usual way, waiting for the stars to come out so she could go on her next hunt, as she tended to do when she wasn't partying the night before.

After sleeping she rose, got dressed and headed out again for a night hunt, instead of the party she likely would have thrown normally. As she headed down stream she began walking towards the lake she'd already come by here once today, but... she couldn't help but take a second look today, if only to check on the safety of the lad who presently called it home. She went on to receive visual confirmation of his presence there in the moonlight, and after doing so, simply began to walk away, lest she disturb him in someway. 'Good he's okay~' she thought rather happily.

[Bloodedge]

After a long, slow trek home, Athos finally made it to the lake in which he slept. Upon reaching the large rock at the water's edge, he saw the serpent Invi fast asleep beside it. Athos turned around and dropped himself to the ground, letting his back hit the rock as the muscles of his body lost all tension. Invi stirred, but made no major movements at the moment of the demigod's obvious return. "It didn't work," Athos hissed while pulling his knees into his chest and lowering his chin into the space between his knees. "I guess we're stuck. This really is our home now."

[Apollymi]

Deianira's momentary happiness was brought to a screeching halt. The step she was about to take forward from the lake was stopped mid stride by the hissed words of the boy to his pet snake. Apparently whatever method he'd tried undertaking didn't work and he was now stuck here. And though Deianira didn't wish to pry nor did she want to interfere in whatever this young demigod had going on. 'You shouldn't stop and you know it, keep moving already...' the girl said inside her own head to herself. She was trying to take the next step, but the pang in her chest simply wouldn't allow her to move past a fellow demigod in need. 'Damn it...' she swore in her own head. "You aren't stuck anywhere. I can probably help you out, if you tell me what happened..." the young woman said as she paused on the side of the lake. She'd only come out to do her hunting, she'd only stopped by here, as a reflex to check on the young man who presently called this place his home, if he didn't want to be here, it was the least she could do, to help him get where he wanted to be.

[Bloodedge]

Invi seemed distraught by the information provided by her "brother" as she claimed. Athos, as well, had no idea where to go from here. He had no desire to be part of New Olympus, and had only accepted being brought to this place because there was nowhere left in the mortal realm for him to call home. In the midst of his apparent sulking, the huntress from days prior made herself known by speaking to the lad directly. Immediately, he fell silent once more. This lasted for several seconds before human words left his mouth again. "... Hephaestus. I went to Hephaestus."

[Apollymi]

"Ah... take it he wasn't in the mood to make weapons?" she said moving a tiny bit closer so she was no longer standing across the lake from the lad but instead near the rock on which his 'sister' snake enjoyed basking. She thought about it for several seconds, knowing that the Smith God was a bit of an outcast, and this one didn't seem to have much by way of social skills, she imagined their encounter probably hadn't gotten very far. "Seeing Hephaestus is the option you want to go with? Well, what reason did you give for wanting the weapon?" she asked genuinely interested in helping the lad achieve his goals, without any knowledge of what it was he was trying to do. She'd heard from a few of the other kids around here that the Smith God didn't need that much reason to act, he'd given them errands to run and then made their weapons based on simple ideas like valor or fortune-seeking. Surely then the problem between this lad and Hephaestus was something else.

[Bloodedge]

"He was making something when I got there," Athos replied. At this point, his voice was getting more use than it had in several months, yet there was still more to be said. Whatever the reason for Deianira's questioning, Athos was in no mood to be reclusive about the answers. Of course, this did nothing to ward off his lack of ability to explain himself properly, but that was another matter entirely. "It didn't get that far. He just wouldn't do it," was his response. With that, the white-haired lad turned his head away from the daughter of Dionysus; not that he'd been looking her way in the first place. His gaze was now fixed to the ground, where moss stemming from his favored stone lay scattered.

[Apollymi]

At the information that the Smith God had been working on a project when the boy arrived but he still wouldn't make it for him, Deianira's brows furrowed. It was almost unheard of for a demigod not to at least get an errand to go on, even when Hephaestus was in a bad mood, the task just became more difficult. If they hadn't even gotten that far, it was more of a problem than she realized. As such Deianira walked a bit closer to Athos and took a seat not facing him and further away from the water than she had been originally. "So, you didn't even get to the impossible quest part, just nothing..." that seemed to make the girl perplexed. "What exact words did you say to Hephaestus?" she asked. This was becoming a bit like detective work, where she was having to piece together the young man's activities to figure out what had gotten him on the bad side of the Smith God, so that she could try and help him get back on his good side. For all the good it would do her.

[Bloodedge]

And so, the girl drew even closer. Athos' periphery alerted him to her movements, but also let him know she was not facing him after relocating herself. He hazarded a momentary glance in her direction while wondering why she bothered questioning these things, only to turn his head away a second later. Another question followed. Frankly, Athos was at least partly at fault for his lack of progress with Hephaestus, but he did not understand this. At this particular moment, he only had the thought that he'd been turned away without good reason. When Deianira asked what his exact words to the god were, he said nothing; he only shriveled up again, as he had done previously.

[Apollymi]

After her question, it seemed the young man was remiss to speak. Perhaps he realized that whatever he'd said probably wasn't the best thing to say to the Smith God. Or perhaps he didn't like her present proximity to him. Either way, he just further shriveled up seeming to fall into himself. Deianira hazarded a quick glance in his direction and allowed her chin to rest on the open palm of her left hand as she gave a small smile. "That bad, huh?" she said not even bothering to try and pry out of the boy his exact words a second time. "Look, I'm not judging or anything. We all mess up from time to time," she said as she stared off into the night. Her own eyes were darting around and held a peculiar glow which indicated the use of her ability to see in the night. "If it really means that much to you, you'll have to try again~" she said rather simply. The young woman was the sort who understood that given the kinds of beings they were, you couldn't give up and sulk at the first of any folly. "After all, it isn't about the mistakes you make, it's about what you do to fix them~" she said, offering the lad a small piece of advice which had gotten her through a tough time once.

[Bloodedge]

Athos gave consideration to the words spoken to him, and had to think of the possibility that he could have better handle the situation with Hephaestus. He could benefit greatly from one of the god's weapons, and such a boon could not be allowed to slip through his fingers due to his own social incompetence during a first meeting. "I... I guess..." he stuttered, trying to find the proper words to portray his intentions. Such was always quite the struggle for Athos, having conversed with so few humans over the course of his lifetime, but he could at least produce something after a bit of thought. "I guess I could try again. I'm not good with words, though..."

[Apollymi]

The young lad came out with a two word sentence initially and a bit of a stammer. Overall, Deianira found this to be cute, as he was still being himself, but there was the slightest lift in the boy's spirits as he finally came out with a statement which the young child of Dionysus could get behind. A bit of a grin came to her face as she gave the boy a gentle and friendly nudge. "Atta boy," she said seeming to find the shift in his attitude to be one which was way more tolerable than the silent version of him who didn't want to say anything or do anything when it came to other people. "Tell you what, when you go back to see Hephaestus again, I'll go with you. After all, I'm pretty good with words and your trip should at least get you something. Well, only if you want I suppose~" she said this was a rather open offer made to the other demigod and to be honest Deianira wasn't exactly sure the lad would accept her help. Either way, she felt it was necessary to offer it, since the boy seemed to have a lot more problems speaking to people than most others.

[Bloodedge]

Apparently, this girl thought it would be a good idea to travel with Athos on his second journey to Lemnos. Although he'd rather have avoided the entire situation, he thought that a better speaker being on hand would perhaps be a great deal easier than going alone. This did not stop him being hesitant about having company. Of course, he could not argue the benefits, so even against his instincts, he had to agree. "... We need to keep distance. And... we need a boat. I can handle the trip with those things," he said while shifting away, seeming to have some distaste for the nudging from Deianira.

[Apollymi]

It seemed that the young man would at least agree to have her along for his little adventure which was probably for the best considering, his earlier folly. Beyond this, his stipulations for such a thing were rather odd, and as he moved away from her she realized that he was beyond simply being antisocial but he was also starved for normal social contact, and unable to accept it when it was given. 'Really? One step forward.... two backwards... I might have to chat with the gods, find out what I did to deserve this kind of punishment~' she thought to herself. Even so, she'd observed enough of this boy's behavior to leave him be. "Fine fine, whatever you want. I can get a boat, I got a friend who owes me a favor," she said as she stood stretching. "But why do we need to keep distance?" she questioned this alone, she was willing to let him have his privacy but it seemed kind of odd for someone about to undertake a long journey with another person to not want to be near them. And while it was rather refreshing a concept for someone like Deianira, but in this case it just seemed like another wall or barrier to overcome.

[Bloodedge]

"Because," he began while shifting further away and rising from his seat on the ground simultaneously. "I... can't be around people. Just stay away; don't even look at me," he concluded. He had already agreed to the assistance, but in no way was he alright with the idea of being in close quarters with someone else. Moving along, he prepped his satchel once more, leaving Invi in her tired state to guard their shared home while he returned to Hephaestus. His idea in using this boat was to force it into rapid speeds toward Lemnos via water manipulation. Doing so would have them traveling across the water at speeds greater than any motorized boats or cars.

[Apollymi]

Deianira opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again. She could somewhat understand the problem with interacting with people if you had a passive ability which seemed to affect them, but this young man by her own approximation possessed no such ability. But it seemed he was quite set about this, given his lack of social skills and what was likely a very closed off set of life experiences, she figured when he said boat he meant something like a row boat. "Alright, that definitely didn't actually answer my question, but I won't pry. I'm going down to the docks at the bottom. Meet me there when you're ready~" she said. Taking off at a run into the woods.

And sure enough within a few moments she was at the very bottom of the wilds having traversed a large section of the area at lightning speeds before coming to a small boat house and knocking on the door. This one in particular was built for a certain half-mer person and was built to allow him to swim with his dolphin tail throughout the whole of it. She arrived and knocked on the top window hearing the sounds of water moving soon enough the door opened and a bow with fluffy blonde hair looked out at her. "Deianira! You're back, I didn't think you'd ever stop by..." said the young an who was obviously way happier to see her than the boy whose company she'd just left. "Yeah, sorry about that Dolph, been a bit busy lately. You remember you said you'd do a favor for me after I helped you out that one time?" she said the boy looked at her bright blue eyes shining. "Yeah, anything you need. I expect a boat is on the list, you can have the yacht even!~" he said pointing with his upper half at the large cruise ship style boat. Deianira looked at it and grinned. "If I was throwing a party right now... I'd totally take it. But I'm doing a bit of an adventure... small boat, sturdy enough to survive some speed probably would do just fine. Oh and two solo cups~" she said the young man looked a bit disappointed but pointed to a smaller more moderate boat to fit the girl's specification, and pulled from under the counter a stack of two red and white plastic cups and had another in his other hand. "Thanks Dolph, you're the best!~" she said the young man smiled a blush creeping up his neck, she touched the cup he had alone and allowed it to fill with a mixture of liquor which she knew him to favor, and took the other two for herself and potentially for her companion. "Aww, you're just saying that... Thanks for this but are you sure you don't want the yacht?" he asked the girl looked at it again and grinned. "Maybe some other time~" she said as she waited by the aforementioned boat for the arrival of her new friend.

[Bloodedge]

Athos had nothing more to say. When Deianira left, he relished in a moment of virtual solitude for a moment by raising his head and looking around the area, before ultimately following suit. His pace was a casual one, leaving ample time for Deianira to reach the docks and have her conversation with her associate. In fact, it would be quite some time after that before Athos showed himself at her location. Once he was there, though, he stood aside and awaited Deianira's word that a boat had been acquired.

[Apollymi]

Having acquired a boat for their trip, Deianira went to scope it out, while she did this she pulled one of the cups which she'd previously asked for and filled it. Leaving the other in the seated part in the cup holder. If nothing else, Dolph's boat building was certainly sublime, she'd have to remember to run another party for him on the beach front, perhaps with roasted shark and a big bonfire, in light of this favor. As she looked it over she lifted her drinking cup in the air and pausing her drink to call for the demigod boy she'd be travelling with, having heard his approach sometime during her previous conversation. "Oi..." she started, remembering that she didn't know what to call the lad, regardless of their now multiple times speaking. "What the hell I don't have a name for you. Can I at least have that?" she asked seeming to be a bit inebriated and thus honest, but also happy as this was her normal state of being. "Oh and I got us a pretty sweet boat too~" she said as she finally stopped looking around it and instead settled near the bow of it waiting for her companion to join.

[Bloodedge]

As Athos approached, he heard the call of Dionysus' daughter. This brought his attention to a boat in which she resided presently, and he subsequently made his way aboard. A quick survey of the vessel gave the boy a reasonable idea of how much it could handle. Once he had it, he stood in the center of the boat, facing the mast. He had no comments to make on the boat, but with the asking of his name, he felt it necessary to at least give that much information. "... My name is Athos," he said. Without further ado, he raised his arms and commanded the water beneath the boat to move. This propelled the vessel at a gradual, yet increasing speed on a path toward Lemnos.

[Apollymi]

"Athos? Alright~" she chimed finally having a name for this person whom she'd been loosely associating with for a couple of weeks. Of course, his name was somewhat necessary since she assumed she'd be doing a bit of speaking for him at some point in their future. As such she settled into the boat and kicked up her feet near the right hand side, once she was comfortable she stared up at the night sky feeling the gradual increase in speed as they headed off towards the island of Lemnos. "So, Athos, I'm supposed to stay away from you and not look at you... but do you wanna have a drink and talk with me? I mean... I wouldn't have to look at you, and we wouldn't have to be near each other~" she said in her normal friendly manner. It was quite uncommon for the young woman to have to pry conversation out of people. In fact, normally just the opposite thing occurred. This was all a very new experience for her, as much so as it likely was for the young man known as Athos.

[Bloodedge]

"..." Athos silently observed the moving sea while still forcing its movements to a greater velocity. In the meantime, Deianira offered the lad a beverage and some form of conversation. A light sigh ensued. Athos considered that if he declined this offer, perhaps she would only continue bothering him. If that were to happen, he figured he may as well have his thirst quenched to make up for it. "... Fine. Whatever. I'm tired of drinking lake water. Just... slide it over, or something."

[Apollymi]

Deianira drank happily and suddenly choked. The words spoken by her companion weren't at all the ones she expected, and her surprise was something of a shock to her. "Really? Damn, I thought it would be about half way through this trip before you'd say yes. I can drink to that!~" she said with a bit of a chuckle, seemingly amused by the entire ordeal. Instead of harping on it too much, she reached for the other solo cup and filled it. This young man mentioned he was tired of lake water so she went to her more standard fruit and honey type of mixture, at a slightly higher percentage than normally give another demigod, mostly because of incidents like the ones with Dolph. Soon after she'd slid the full cup over to the young man so it'd stop at his foot and raised her own into the air as she tilted her head back.

[Bloodedge]

Athos sighed once more in response to Deianira's excitement. He couldn't fathom such emotion, especially considering it came at the simple acceptance of an offer for a drink. The cup was soon in his line of sight regardless, and he took it up to visually inspect its contents before drinking from it. A sniff, as well, was taken from the brim of the cup. This was a new substance to Athos, who went on to pour the contents of the cup into his mouth as if it were water. It tasted of fruit, as if it were a mixture of berries from the wilds. It was certainly something Athos had never experienced, but it didn't seem to have much of an impact even as he gulped it down.

[Apollymi]

Deianira spied from the corner of her eye as the young man apparently tested the waters of this new drink, so to speak. "Whoa, he drinks like a champ. Way to go~" she said seemingly amused by the whole situation. He also didn't seem to stagger or understand what exactly it was that he was drinking, she'd feel a bit bad if she didn't at least warn him of the potential side effects. "Though I'd be irresponsible if I didn't mention you probably don't wanna drink that fast~" she said as she spun the empty plastic cup over the index finger of her left hand and had it fill again before it tilted into her mouth again. "Om, while I am thinking about it, I default to berry but if you aren't cool with that I can do other stuff too~" she said finding it amusing.

[Bloodedge]

"Why... would I want to drink slower?" he asked, only after draining the cup of all its fluid. He then placed the cup on the floor where he'd retrieved it from initially. Still, there was nothing strange occurring with the lad; he even returned to his normal resting state, with his knees raised and tucked into his torso in a seated position. He didn't seem to care about the flavor of this beverage, as he had no real complaints either way. At the same time, though, he had nothing to say about any other flavors Deianira could/would potentially offer.

[Apollymi]

A giggle escaped Deianira, and it would have been considered infectious to most, but she didn't expect it to bother this particular young man. No, he drank stronger liquor than she gave to most people and still seemed to be himself. "Ah, it's not like I'm making juice here~" she said finding it amusing. "It's top notch liquor~ Would've knocked a couple of weaker demigods unconscious, but... I think you might be immune to me in general~" she said laughing a bit more. "It's great!~" she said filling up her cup again, and knowing the young man probably wouldn't understand why she thought this to be a good thing. She stared up at the sky while they moved, wondering what kind of damage control she'd have to do when they reached Lemnos, among other things. Instead of dwelling on it too long she sipped from her own cup again.

[Bloodedge]

When told it was liquor he'd been drinking, Athos spared a glance in the direction of his empty cup. He'd never properly partaken of liquor before, but from what he understood of how it functioned, he could understand why it seemed like nothing more than a casual beverage to him. His natural abilities gave him an absolute immunity to poisons of all sorts, as far as he knew. What he found strange was that Deianira seemed only more excited by the fact that he was unaffected by this beverage. "I... don't understand... why that's a good thing."

[Apollymi]

As she finished what was likely her third or fourth cup the young man now known to her as Athos finally found it in himself to question something about the other demigod but what it was wasn't something she actually expected. She took a bit of a pause, unsure of how much she wanted to say in this particular moment. "That's...." she paused before speaking further as if it was really difficult for once for her to express the depth of this situation and why it was so very momentous. "Complicated." she stated plainly but she knew this wasn't enough so she had to devote a bit more thought to this even in this moment. "It's good because you are yourself, no matter what and that is worth being excited about~" she said knowing it wasn't a full explanation. To be honest, Deianira found it strange when people weren't affected by her, and he obviously wasn't. But this was something she always wanted to find, someone who actually wanted to hang out with her of their own accord. Even so, it seemed that this would be a very slow going process, she couldn't remember making friends being so arduous.

[Bloodedge]

An explanation was given, but it was not exactly one which gave Athos some understanding of the situation at hand. Surely he was himself; there was nothing else he could be. He had no clue what sort of passive ability this girl had to affect the moods of others, but even if he did have some idea about it, he would likely not be able to fathom it. Athos sat with his lack of comprehension about this matter, choosing to remain silent in solitude for the remainder of the trip, unless he was somehow inclined to speak for one reason or another.

[Apollymi]

Athos didn't say much else after her explanation, but she didn't really expect him to understand exactly why she'd be excited by his immunity to her. She knew he would be fine with the silence for a while so she let it go stopping drinking for a while. She used this time to clear her head and once she did, she had a singular question. "So, I was kinda wondering, why do you want a weapon?" she asked it was a pretty valid question, though probably randomly placed as far as their previous silence was concerned. Though she'd agreed to this voyage without knowing what he wished to do, it was kind of pertinent to know what was going through the young man's mind as far as his actual motivations.

[Bloodedge]

Athos relished in the moments of silence he was afforded on this trip. It seemed, however, that said silence would inevitably be brought to an abrupt end by an out of the blue inquiry by Deianira. The daughter of Dionysus wondered why Athos required a weapon of such quality as one crafted by the god Hephaestus. He preferred leaving such queries unanswered, but there was some amount of humanity in the lad that gave him a certain sense of fairness. Because of this, the simple fact that this individual had made such efforts to assist him warranted at least some sort of answer. "... I need to fight someone."

[Apollymi]

Deianira found his answer to be unsurprisingly unspecific. Of course, she couldn't really fault the lad for keeping certain information to himself, she did the same for less than obvious reasons. Even so, she supposed if she gave a bit more information about what she actually wanted to know would make it a bit more rounded than most. A small chuckle would escape the girl. "You're funny, you know that~" she said. "But I'll take that one for being nonspecific," she said before she continued. "I don't necessarily want to know who you are fighting or anything, just why?" she asked simply. If she knew the reasoning behind the fighting she could be alright. This boy was far too timid and withdrawn to go warmongering or anything like that. Or at least, she hoped this was the case.

[Bloodedge]

The prying continued. He'd given as much of an answer as he intended to, but it seemed possible that Deianira thought he was joking to some extent because of it. Whatever the case, she stressed not caring to know who he sought to face in combat. She did, however, have a desire to know why he felt the need to fight. Perhaps her wonder was simply due to the power of the weapon he sought, but whether this was the case or not, his answer remained the same. "... So I can go home again."

[Apollymi]

It seemed that whatever Athos thought about her further prying, he didn't bother mentioning to the young woman. Instead, he soon enough answered her query, in quite an interesting way. The young woman's eyes widened drastically when Athos mentioned that he simply wished to go home. She had no idea what he'd been up to before this point, or even what place he thought of as his home, but his statement was so full of loneliness, that it made her wonder what could be so bad that he'd need a god crafted weapon to achieve his goal. "Oh..." she said, seemingly speechless at the idea that someone could be that alone. Of course, this wouldn't discourage her. No, the rest of their trip, even though whatever was necessary to get him what he needed, she'd try really hard to help him out, because as far as she was concerned this lonely young man was especially in need of a slice of happiness. A quiet would settle over the pair for the rest of this trip, and Deianira wouldn't try to promote speech again, until they reached their destination.

[Kiyomi]

Amethea slowed down her steps as she made her way to the start of a large collection of trees. The smell of fresh air and nature reminded her of back home when she use to hunt with her father. She could hear the sounds of rustling leaves as a light breeze blew through. She sat down to wait for her brother whom she forgot she left behind in her excitement.

[Bloodedge]

Soon after Amethea's arrival, the blonde adolescent named Aiolia made his return to the wilds for what would be the second time this day. He wore the armor which marked him as Apollo's demigod champion, albeit in a modified, segmented state. The usual chest plate was gone, though the pauldrons remained and connected to a cape to wrap around Aiolia's body. Its gauntlets were reduced in size to cover only his hands and wrists. Lastly, the boots were significantly shortened as well. All in all, Aiolia seemed to have much more freedom of movement in this state. While this was not the case (as he had full range of movement while wearing the full armor), this simply felt more natural when hunting. "Alright..." he said to the wolf as he stepped up beside her. "I guess we should start by finding something with a coat of fur like yours. Maybe another wolf, or something..." After a brief pause, Aiolia turned to quizzically stare into the side of the wolf-girl's face. "Can you speak like that?"

[Kiyomi]

Amethea stood at the appearance of her brother at her side, "That depends, can you hear me?" She spoke, if she were able to speak while still in this form it would confirm at this moment. Quite a few things have changed for her since getting her human form so even Amethea herself didn't understand what she could fully do. If she could be understood than the young blonde would hear the following, "Also...I normally don't go after other wolves unless they are in my territory." Despite being a hunter she couldn't really bring herself to hunt her own kin.