Camp Half-Blood

The day dawned brightly over Camp Half-Blood. It always seemed to do that; dawn brightly. And it never failed to annoy Nikki. She hated bright light, daylight more than anything. The sun was a constant annoyance to her. If only it were safe to go live in a cave somewhere, she would. But it wasn't safe; the only safe place in the world for her, or for people like her, was the camp on Half-Blood Hill. So that was where she stayed.
Here in the accursed sun, surrounded by damned noisy half-bloods.

She probably would have had no problem with the sun, if she could manage to sleep with it. But without fail, whenever that bright light broke the edge of her cabin windows and fell into the room like a cascade of gold, her eyes flew open, and sleep was done with for the night. She was a nocturnal creature as it was; it took her hours upon hours to get to sleep every night. If only she could have slept during the day; she could have done it if she were allowed to close the curtains. But camp activities occurred during the day, and for some reason she was required to participate. So it was that she slept during the night, and woke with the dawn. Every damned day.

And this day was, naturally, the same as every other day had been. The sun broke through the windows, turning the inside of her eyelids scarlet. And she was awake.

She lay in her bed for a time, staring up at the ceiling. The black stone provided some small comfort, except that it soaked up the sun like a sponge, and in a couple minutes it would be baking hot inside the cabin. That was another thing she hated; the heat.
Oh, why couldn't she just live in a cave?

When the cabin began to get too warm to stay inside, Nikki swung out of bed and seized the mound of clothing she had left in a pile on the floor the previous day. In a matter of minutes, she was dressed in one of those accursed, bright orange Camp Half-Blood shirts, and a pair of remarkably short black shorts. She hated wearing too much clothing. It felt odd against her skin, constricting. Normally, she would have worn as little as was probably legal. But this was camp. Some fools would be scarred by her normal uniform. So she dressed as Chiron said she was to dress, and cursed his name every night when she prayed to her father, Hades.
Nothing could make her put down her Stygian iron blade, of course.

It was the first step out of the cabin which was the most painful. It always was the most painful. The bright light scalded her eyes, and she had to cover them for a moment before she could actually head out into camp. Of course, being able to see was not all that pleasant, either.

It only revealed how very many cheerful faces she was going to have to deal with during the day. Oh, how she wished her brother, Nico di Angelo, were back form his quest. At least she could stand his presence...

Dawn woke up with the sun. She sat in front of her vanity, crowded by the other daughters of Aphrodite, even the occasional son. All complaining of a lack of mirror space. Dawn snapped her fingers repeatedly, shuffling through various hair colors and looks. She finally stopped on one of her favourite looks. Blonde hair , green eyes, fair skin. She applied a little eye liner and some mascara and donned a Camp Half-Blood tank top, and some short shorts. IT was time for her to begin her day.

She stretched as she exited the cabin. It was still early yet, none of the classes had started, the campers were just starting to leave their cabins. Dawn headed over to the Mess hall for breakfast. She heard her name a few times, various hello's and good mornings. She smiled diplomatically and and waved in return. She was well known at camp. She tried to smile and be nice to everyone, she liked making friends.

She ate in peace, being the early bird that she was. A few boys stopped and tried to talk to her, she remained poliet, but was secretly annoyed at their presence. It wasn't that she disliked the attention, it was just that being Aphrodite’s daughter gave a lot of boys the wrong ideas. Just because Aphrodite was the goddess of love and LUST, didn't mean Dawn wanted to hook up with every boy she met. She sometimes dreamed about dating a mortal boy, that had no inkling of her lineage. Maybe then she could get a boyfriend because of her charming personality. She gave a wistful sigh, and finished her eggs and bacon, aside from the piece she threw in the fire to her mother.

“Don't take that wrong mom,” She prayed. She walked off to the art's and crafts tent to being her day.

Both Emilie and Alex, were already awake. They loved training, and the fact that they could never beat each other, made them want to push themselves even further. The sounds of clanging swords could be heard from yards away. "Getting tired?" Emilie teased with a smirk on her lips.

"Never." Alex replied, determination coating his every word.

"Alright you two. Break it up." The combat instructor walked over with a smile on his lips. "Why do you two continue to fight eachother? You know neither of you will ever win." Alex walked over and slumped an arm on Emilie's shoulder. "That's what makes it fun. We only try harder." "Even if neither of us will ever win."

The instructor crossed his arms. "Well, I cant say that training with each other hasn't improved your abilities, so, whatever. Carry on." He walked off and Emilie, with a sigh, turned to Alex. "We should get something to eat." "Are you admitting defeat?" "No, but my stomach is admitting hunger, so lets go." Alex smiled and they walked off toward the Mess hall.

When they reached the doors, Emilie turned around and looked at the rising sun for a moment, before walking in behind Alex.

The sun beating down on her back, Nikki started walking towards the mess hall, where most of the campers had already gathered for breakfast. Some food and a nice offering to her father; maybe that would wake her up and help her face this blinding, noisy day.
Oh, how she wished she could just go live in a cave somewhere…

She had quite nearly reached the mess hall, when she caught the sound of footsteps coming up rapidly from behind her. It was an easy swaying gate; the step of a practiced warrior, not in a hurry but moving quickly. It was a familiar gate, as well. Someone she had known for years…

She was just about to turn and demand that he leave her be when his long, powerful arm swung up over her shoulders, knocking her off balance. She staggered, but absorbed the blow easily, throwing the force back up at him when she suddenly straightened, throwing him off of her. He laughed as he stumbled away from her. Slowly, Nikki turned, russet eyes burning, to gaze into the darkly tanned face of Castor Demoin, son of Zeus.

“Morning, Niks!” he laughed, waving eagerly at her as he came to stand at her side.

“Go die,” Nikki answered coolly, turning and moving on towards the mess hall. He kept pace with her easily; his legs were much longer than hers, even if she was much taller than most girls her age.

“Don’t be mean,” he grinned, reaching up, as though to ruffle his hand through her spiky silver hair. She caught his hand half way to her head, twisting it slightly to keep him from continuing anyways.

“Don’t touch me,” she answered frigidly, then forced him away and moved along. He was still laughing when he caught up with her again, and they passed through the columns, into the messhall.
It was all Nikki could do to home that someone else would grab Castor, as he had many more friends than she did, and that she would be left in peace.