Olympus Academy

Ruby had overslept. Severely overslept. She must have forgotten to wind her alarm, last night. She runs around her bedroom; one leg in her jeans and the other out, her hair wild and tangled from sleep, her teeth stained with lipstick from trying to apply it quickly. She glances at her reflection in the mirror above her dresser, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" she drawls sarcastically, rubbing the stray smears of scarlet off of her teeth. She rolls up the sleeves of her shirt - it's been warm for days - and balances on one foot at a time to tie the laces of the other boot. Her backpack is adorned with dozens of pins and badges, and one of them falls of when she picks the bag up, but she just clips it on to her shirt pocket and leaves, heading in the direction of class.

She's sure that Keating must have heard every excuse in the book for lateness, by now, and is trying to think of something original...'I got lost in the forest'? 'I couldn't find my shoes'? 'My bedroom door wouldn't open'? Nah, he'd never, ever believe them. She'll just have to apologise profusely and hope he's in a good mood. Jeffrey is up ahead of her, going in the same direction, and she's glad that she's not the only one running late. She slips in the door behind him before he closes it. She lingers a little behind him, waiting her turn to make her excuses to Keating, but she stops worrying about it when Jeffrey gives his; compared to that, anything which Ruby could have come up with would have seemed positively plausible! "Uh, yeah, same thing." she gestures to Jeffrey, when Keating looks at her expectantly.

She slides into the seat beside Sinclair, "Morning, ev-" she's distracted by the rabbit on Keating's desk, and actually rubs at her eyes a couple of times to make certain that she's not seeing things. She's glad when Jeffrey mentions it; at least the others can see it, too.

_______________________________________



Rhea's reply stuns him into silence, for a long moment. "Wow...sorry. he mutters, examining her face to try to gauge how she's feeling, but the girl is a firmly closed book, "I didn't mean to...y'know..." He trails off lamely, averting his eyes awkwardly so she doesn't feel like he's staring at her like a freak show.


He shakes his head disbelievingly when Keating spins them the story about a deadly rabbit, "I don't buy it" he shrugs, "I think he's messing with us." he's not really bothered about the decision the others will take, though. If they kill it, he might get extra credit for bringing it back to life...he realises that he's not a sickened by the thought as he perhaps should be, but shakes it off.

Arissa had begun to go on a confident spiel about how she would excell in today's mission (he himself was doing more nervous gulping that boasting) but before she could spit out the words, Aria came flying in and crash landed into his chest with a distinctive "thud". She sputtered out the quickest apology he'd ever heard and skittered away red as a tomato. "It's- it's fi-" he was saying, yet he was still teetering around off balance, trying to regain his footing but finding it exceedingly hard with this bulky armor making him lopsided. "Ah! Ah!" he he cried, swaying to the side before ultimately plopping onto the ground. "Mmm, looks like more grass stains for me. The more the merrier, really." he joked, scrambling to his feet. He wondered why he'd even tried to regain his balance. If he would've just let himself fallen down he probably would have saved himself some embarrassment. Oh, well. He brushed off his pants to get any flecks of grass from him and gave a little side glance back at Aria who was now chatting with Peter. A smile crept onto his lips.

Then Cadwell was explaining their assignment today and he found himself getting increasingly more anxious. Oh no. Not capture the flag. The last time they played this, Nova'd left with two black eyes. The worst part? Both had been accidentally self-inflicted. "Nova, one word; fire" he had said, which only made him all the more nervous. See, sure Nova could spark a light or two, but his command over fire was about as good as his command over urination. If he was particularly antsy - and especially if there were people watching - he had a seriously hard time performing. He was no awesome, walking blow torch. More like malfunctioning microwave flicking out embers here and there. Still, he appreciated that Cadwell went out of his way to be nice to he and the rest of the class. He really meant well but, ah, it woudln't stop the sense of impending doom from pounding in his ears.

"...late, Nova." Tristan had said. Nova had sheepishly not heard the start of his sentence, too wrapped up in the tangle of thoughts his brain was spinning like a spindly spider. He just grinned bright at him and nodded, a vague answer to whatever his statement had been. He was fan of Tristian so his friendly face was a nice temporary distraction from the challenge. Then he'd proposed that Arissa, himelf, and Nova would team up. "Yeah, totally. We're like a match made in heaven." he joked, eyes trailing over to the dejected Nina in the back of the class. "Oh..." he said, and he'd just begun to make his way over to her when Peter'd beat him to it. She followed him back to their team and he frowned. He didn't want to have to go up against Nina, a good friend of his, when she was feeling so down. Well, it looked like he didn't have much of a choice.

Nova wasn't able to greet most of the new additions, the rest of that portion a bit of a blur because he'd volunteered to go up and tie their flag to the pole at the end of the field like Cadwell had asked. It was clear that Nova was stressing out. Anyone who knew him would see the strains in his feigned smile, the shutters flexing behind his eyes as he calculated the many ways he could humilate himself during today's class. When he'd gotten back, Danni and Ethy were both on his team. Each of them offered him a small smile - relatively uncharacteristic of the two of them - and he grinned right on back, this one more easy going than before. "Wooo! We got the bamf girls!" he cried, throwing his arms in the air with enthusiasm that was only partially done for comedic purposes. Really, they were spectacular additions to the team.

Then Aria had shuffled on over, mewing out a shy "Need an extra?" perhaps he'd been stepping some lines onto Arissa's team leader position, but he wooted out a "YEAH!" followed by, "Only if you promise not to shove me to the floor again, that is." It was clear there was no ill intent in his little jab. Then they were talking about strategy and Nova'd found that words had escaped him once more, any of that easy going brightness quickly being replaced with uneasiness once more. If anyone'd paid attention, they'd hear a nervous little twitter at the word "attacker". Nova was not an attacker - not offensive on any level of the word. Still, objecting would mean putting their whole team at a disadvantage if what Arissa said was true, and voicing complaints about his own inefficiencies seemed hardly the route to go to foster team spirit. "Yeah...!" he'd weakly crowed to his group, the lamest input yet. He looked over his team and kind of chuckled. They were not really a cohesive unit of friends, but more class mates who'd been wrapped together for a common goal. He looked over at the other, larger team to see that all of them could probably be seen hanging around each other after class very happily. His eye trailed to Will who was just kind of standing there in the center of the field and a frown tugged on his lips.

Before he knew what he was doing, his feet had begun to trail over to where he was standing. He and Will were not really friends. Not friends at all, actually. He hadn't recalled speaking to him once in his life, but he was sure they knew of each other and he couldn't simply stand by as he was literally ostracized from every single class mate. Sure, he'd done some mean things and sure a whole lot of people disliked him for said mean things, but no one deserved to be so... alone. He'd gotten all the way over to him, standing a couple feet away, before he realized he had no idea what he'd planned on saying. He'd merely acted on impulse. "Ah, eh, hey Will." he peeped. "Are you feeling alright, man...? Do you want to be on our team?" he asked, not even taking into consideration how little some of his other team mates liked Will.

---

Boone sat in his desk, chuckling here and there when the time called for it, but indeed, remained silent throughout their debate. The children were only just now stating their initial opinions on the fluffy white thing on the stool. The real fun would come when they seriously had to pick a resolve and go with it - something that could be harder than you'd imagine, especially with such a large group.

When Ruby and Ducky came slinking in, giving him the shittiest excuse he'd ever heard, he let out some annoyed grumbles but other than that rolled his eyes and made a motion directing them to take a seat. While he would love to chew them out for being late, he really couldn't talk for the rest of the assessment. If he explained the assignment again, he could bias their opinions or say something misleading. Besides, how the students framed the evaluation in explaining to Ducky and Ruby would alter how they perceived it, which would be interesting to watch nonetheless. He remained the silent observer for now.

Clover collapses into a fit of giggles - relief, surprise and amusement - when Keating unleashes the bunny rabbit, and her condition is only worsened by Lukas' absurd comment about being mangled by the rabbit; she's doubled over with laughter, tears of it smudging her mascara. "That rabbit's got a vicious streak a mile wide! It's a killer!" she quotes the old Monty Python movie breathlessly between fits of laughter.

She looks up, aghast, when Everlie insists that they kill it, "Are you serious? No way!" she shakes her head firmly. "I'm with Chloe; just look at it's tiny little face!" she coos. She flicks Lukas on the ear when he agrees with Everlie, "Don't be daft!" she scolds, "It's a rabbit! You can't kill it!" She gives him a look which clearly says 'Don't. You. Dare.' She's shocked by his willingness to kill it; usually he adores animals.

"I don't think it's a Cerberbunny...whatever that is. Cerberus had, like, fifty heads."[b] she mimes having fifty heads with wild arm movements, [b]"Remember, Summers told us about it last week? That rabbit definitely only has one head." She looks at the others with a quirked eyebrow, waiting for their counter-arguments.

Sinclair tries to supress a laugh when Keating reveals the rabbit, along with a ridiculous explantion, but he can't hold it in when Clover starts to laugh. Her ridiculous giggle - a crazed, shrill, breathless sound - sets him off, too. He's doubled over in his seat, smacking his hands against his thighs. Jeffrey and Ruby come and sit by them, but he's laughing too much to offer any sort of coherent explanation to either of them, and only manages to splutter out "Bunny...Killer Bunny!..Keating...Kill it!" between bursts of laughter.

He laughs even harder when Everlie and Lukas both say that the rabbit should be killed, their faces ultra-serious,"No, seriously, stop. I can't breathe!" he begs, clutching at his stomach, which is aching from laughter; for the second time of the morning, he's starting to worry that he might be sick. "Very macho, Lukas! What are you going to do? Make rabbit stew?" he chokes out, his voice raspy from laughing, then collapses into another fit of giggles.

Tabbi

Tabbi wakes up feeling hellish. She's been ill since yesterday afternoon, and had had to miss her last classes to go and lie down. She looks at her clock, and knows that she should be getting ready for school, but she just doesn't have the energy. It's just a stomach bug, but she's never been very brave in the face of pain. She rolls over so she can reach her bedside table and takes a few pain-killers with a swig of water. She groans, and hides her head under her pillow. She'll go to class later, when she no longer feels like she's being punched in the stomach from the inside.

Ava smiled as Ducky rushed into the classroom, taking a seat next to her "what's the rabbit for?' he asked making Ava chuckle with a slight shrug "apparently it's some mutant rabbit, hard to believe huh?" she smirked "so, oversleep?" she asked enquiring about his lateness to class, Mr Keating's class especially. Hearing Clover and Sinclairs contagious laughter made her laugh lightly with a slight shake of her head, she had to admit it did seem quite ridiculous that the cute little could be, well, monstrous.

Poppy casually made her way through the camp, her hair like a beast and a smile on her face that screamed mischief.
She was late for cadwells class but that was okay. She didn't plan on joining in. Poppy knew the person who would be accompanying her wouldn't appreciate jumping around.

Saddling up to an open window Poppy popped her head inside. The room smelt musty and felt humid. It was the place of a person who'd been lying in bed for too long, a day and a half too long. In the dim light she sought out the mound beneath a heap of covers with a foot sticking out of one end and a bit of hair out of the other.
Taking note of the tablets and water on the side she cleared her throat and smiled brightly.

"Tabbi..." she cooed.

Silence.

"Oh Tabbi..."

Her friend had been ill and had spent the whole previous day in bed. Poppy couldn't fathom why she needed to spend any more time festering in her room. Didn't she know by now that the best medicine was a daily dose of vitamin P.Sanders? Trying to jolt the window open wider Poppy wiggled her way through some more and out stretched her arm to tickle the visible foot.

Rhea Xior

"No its okay Lennon...its my problem, I'll deal with it..." she responded back to him, her voice a little more jovial than it usually was. She looked around the room when Keating presented the Ceberbunny. Obviously,barely anyone in the room was serious about the task given to them, it seems like their best defense was to laugh it off, but what if?... she began to think seriously, the best defense is make people think your harmless , that's how predators catch prey they either camoflogue into the environment, or make it seem as if they pose no threat. As far as the students were concerned, their egos were keeping them from seeing the real picture. She turned to to Everlie, giving her a look that assured her that she agreed. "Keating isn't usually one to lie, if he says its dangerous, I would probably believe him whole heartedly, but lets say if its not dangerous? Then I'll probably look like the dumbass..." In between all the laughing, Rhea simply stated her opinion. "I think we should attack it, but only if it decides to attack us, therefore I agree with Everlie..." She looked around. knowing that no one would deny her descion.
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Ezekiel Row

Sitting in the front had provided its entertainment for Zeke, his ear was annoyed while his eyes examined, all in all, it was a pretty harmless looking animal, one that if it was proven to be harmless, he would actually feel horrible for killing, but he had to agree with Everlie, if it was as dangerous as Keating said it was, then it needed to be handled, he stood and touched Everlie's shoulder (she's standing up right?) "I agree we should kill it... but how? " he looked back at the bunny, and gave it a slightly queasy smile, he may have been the only one feeling the immense displeasure he got from thinking about it, it seemed cute and harmless, but appearances can always be deceiving.

Chloe Huntington

Chloe's head swivelled from the delightful conversation about how they were, or if they were going to kill a defenceless bunny rabbit, when Ducky walked in, and she couldn't stop the laugh from escaping her mouth as he rambled his elaborate excuse for being late. "I take it that you took the Hobbits to Isengard too in the process? That would explain the length of time." She spoke to him, ignoring the fact that he had spoken to the blonde bitch. Then, she turned back to their group and frowned. The conversations flew around her; half of the group saying that they should kill the bunny, repeat bunny, and the others saying that it was a poor animal who should be spared. "I still stand on the ground that Keating over there is playing us, and I don't want to stand around and watch you kill a little rabbit." She stood up from her chair, grabbed her back and walked over to Boone's desk, a smile on her face. "Mr Keating, sir, I'm not feeling too well, so I'm going to head back to my dorm and sleep a little. My answer is 'don't kill the rabbit, it's a rabbit for fuck sake.' That okay? Thank you, I'll catch up with you later! Bye!"

And with that, she whirled out of the classroom door.

Okay, so Chloe didn't really feel unwell. However, she didn't want to see the guts of a rabbit all over the classroom, and her ears filled with the screams of vanity coming from Ava, so she had decided to escape. An idea popped into her head about what she could do in her spare time, but before she went in the direction of Cadwell's class, she turned around to look behind her. Boone wouldn't follow her out; he knew her well enough to know by now that when she was gone, she was gone, and there was nothing he could do about it. Besides, he had her answer; she had done his test. It was just up to her classmates now to finish it. There was a skip in her step and she swung her bag as she made her way towards the Training Area. She watched the class from behind the trees for a moment, and when she magically caught her best friend's eye, she signalled for him to run away with her, only for a little bit.

She winked at him cheekily, before turning away once more, hiding behind the trees. Come on Chance. Come hang with me.

---

William Hawk

Will almost jumped out of his skin when he felt a weight on his back, and he flung his arms backwards, to catch the mysterious woman who was clinging on to him, like a koala onto a eucalyptus tree. "Well, hello Jackie. Yes, I was thinking, something which I don't do too fucking often. I actually think I've broken my bloody nose. Can you look? What do you think?" He paused for a moment as he showed her his bleeding nose, knowing that it wouldn't affect her like it would affect other girls. She wasn't scared of a little blood. Also, she was the only person that he would actually trust, with something like this, other than Nina of course - but she wasn't speaking to him. To every other girl in this place, he had to be the "macho man" that his reputation showed him to be, and he couldn't let that facade down. But Jackie knew him better than that, and he couldn't hide anything from her any more. He had tried, as hard as anyone had tried to do anything before, but she always found him out; but that was Jacqueline Christie for you.

"Yeah, 'lots of girls' are going to be swooning over me with a purple and bruised face, aren't they?" He sighed as she pulled back from inspecting him, and they made their way to class, slowly but surely. He felt slightly dizzy from his accident, and really wasn't in the mood to fight any more. His power was pretty crappy anyway - he was able to see every move that someone could make, his eyes being extremely sharp, but that was it. On a pirate ship, he would have been the one with the wooden leg, up in the crows nest on look out. That was all he was good for. "What about you, eh? All those guys after you? Anyone in particular yet, honey?" He nudged her playfully, but then winced almost instantly, the movement sending shocks up to his face.

Soon, they were in the lesson, and everyone was getting ready, except him. He was standing in the middle like a lemon, not knowing what to do. It was strange to see William Hawk just standing around not socializing with anyone, or flirting with girls, so it was a surprise to him that Nova cautiously made his way towards him. He didn't like Nova, purely because of his sissy-like attitude, but it was pretty ballsy of the guy to come up to him, and ask him to join his team. He reached his hand up and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly as they stood there in a strange atmosphere, trying his best to muster up words from the bottom of his stomach. "Erm... Thanks, Nova. But, I've kinda' injured myself. So, I might s-sit this first one out. But... y'know... thanks, man, for offering. Maybe when I'm feeling a little better?" He said, nodding to the guy, making the first friendly gesture he had ever made to him. When Nova returned to his group, Will turned around to Cadwell, looking sheepish. "Yeah, I've destroyed my nose. Is it okay to sit out for a little bit? I feel a bit... woozy."

---

Lukas Tricon

Luke didn't pay much attention to the two new people entering the classroom. He was kind of in his own little world today, too busy thinking about other things to focus on the comings and goings of other people. Then suddenly, he felt a sharp pain running through his ear, and he whipped his head around, glaring playfully at Clover. "Excuse me, missy?" He asked her, raising his eyebrow at her actions. However, his playful anger soon fell away as she mimed being Cerebus, the guard of the underworld. He laughed at her as she did so, and slowly put his hands on top of hers, bringing them down onto her lap. "Now now, Clover. What have we said about imitating mythical creatures? Yes, honey, it makes you look like a lunatic." He smiled to her, before placing another soft kiss onto her cheek, just to reiterate to her that he was only joking around. The bracelet on her arm glinted in the sunlight for a moment, drawing his eye to it, making him smile. He thought back to the expression on her face when she first saw it around her wrist, and in that moment, he realised how lucky he actually was to have such an amazing girl. Ironically, with her being the daughter of Tyche.

"You know how I feel about animals, Clover. I love them to pieces. But... I don't really want to take any risks." Lukas almost had to stop himself from spinning around and incinerating Sinclair then and there at his next comment. Lukas had always been a kind soul, but ever since he had started dating Clover, and Sinclair had turned more sarcastic and cynical towards him, Luke felt like he was slowly loosing that kindness, his patience, and his caring nature towards all living things. "All living things" now did not include Sinclair in his eyes. It was like the male was slowly trying to torment him, to turn him insane in his own mind, to make him feel unworthy of being with Clover by upsetting her with his actions. Sinclair knew all of the ways to push Lukas' buttons; that was what happened when friends became enemies.

"I still think we should kill it, even though I want no part in it. We could always use Sinclair as bait, to see if it really is a monster. If anyone's going to bring out the monster in someone, it's him." He smiled sardonically. His arm came around the back of Clover's chair, wrapping his arm around her shoulder like a normal boyfriend would do. He felt himself calm down more and more as he relaxed, and when he took her other hand into his, he felt completely at ease.

Jackie Christie

"Well, hello Jackie. Yes, I was thinking, something which I don't do too fucking often. I actually think I've broken my bloody nose. Can you look? What do you think?" He paused for a moment as he showed her his bleeding nose. Jackie studied his nose for a moment and her lips were closed tight not daring to open yet. She inspected it a little more and then touched it lightly. Her fingers ran down his nose seeing if she could feel anything that was broken or misplaced. She then wet her thumb down and whiped off a bit of blood that was on his nose and then she dried it with the back of her hand. "Doesn't seem broken, most likely fractured or something though. Very bloody indeed though." She said smiling at him. Jackie took great care of him, he was like the brother she never had after all, she protected him and he protected her. It was that simple.

"Yeah, 'lots of girls' are going to be swooning over me with a purple and bruised face, aren't they?" He sighed as she pulled back from inspecting him, and they made their way to class, slowly but surely. She could tell he was dizzy and she felt concerned but shrugged it off seeing as he wanted to probably seem manly to the other girls and possibly keep his options open. "Will, you're a stud..Even if you have a bruised face they'd still go with you." Jackie said. "What about you, eh? All those guys after you? Anyone in particular yet, honey?" He nudged her playfully, but she could see the wince that came right after it. "Oh, babe you know all the guys want this as their first choice." She said playfully and laughed slightly. "But seriously you have to ask..I know you don't like the fact that I'm dating your brother but he just so happens to be my date to the dance as well." Jackie said sighing. "I would go with you as your friend in case you had no luck with the ladies but Ducky might think of it differently and might dislike you more." She said matter of factly.

Soon they were in class and she noticed everyone around had none of them really paid attention to Will..Not even Nina. Nina was one of the girls who liked her Willy and honestly Jacqueline thought Nina was a good choice for William because she wasn't one to backstab. She thought for a moment and as William talked to Cadwell, she closed her eyes slightly and tried to look into William's past events of the morning alrhough it went back to the day he was born and then after a few minutes she found this morning and knew exactly what happened with him and Nina and many of the others. This was how William could never fool Jackie, Jackie would always know. Everyone was like a computer she go find a history button and search their personal history. Of course it was rather complicated to control sometimes. She reopened her eyes and after Nova talked to Will and left and Will was done talking to Cadwell she sat down and patted the spot beside her for Will.

She waited for Will to sit down and as she did she closed her eyes trying to tamper into Nina's past trying to know how she felt but as soon as she entered Nina's history things became too much for Jackie to even try and they made her dizzy so she blinked her eyes and kept them open. Once Will sat down she sighed. "Will, I know what happened with Nina this morning." She said quietly.

Chance Rundell

Chance had been standing around being bored out of his mind. He liked his team but things were so slow at starting and honestly he only really wanted to speak with Chloe. He liked talking to her and being around her, not just because he had liked her but because to him Chole was just a likeable girl. Sighing and running a hand through his hair he knew that soon enough that odd dance was supposed to be coming up and they could have a date to the dance if wanted. He hadn't heard of who was taken and who wasn't. He had his mind set on one girl to take and one only. If she said no then he would probably be screwed and torn on who to go with. As he stood silent for once he slowly wandered away and he walked over to Emilee.
"Hey, Em." He said with a half hearted smile. She was a good person he just wasn't all there.

"Hi, Chance." She said returning a smile.

"I was thinking we could use more people on our team and was wondering if you and Malcolm wanted to e on our team." Chance said and now waited for a reply.

"Yea sure, we'd love to join your team." She responded smiling and then she got her armour on.

Chance smiled."Alright, this should be good." He said and then walked back to the others. He watched Lloyd for a moment and was slightly confused by what the kid was doing then he knew and rolled his eyes. "Llyod..We don't have any children of Zeus on our side.. The child of Zeus that's in this class is the one over there flirting or somethin' with Cadwell." Chance said chuckling to him self.

That was when his eyes caught on the forest over there and behind a tree he could see Chloe and a smirk tugged at his lips and he knew all to well that she must have skipped Keating's class. Chance had respect for Keating but not many people liked him as a teacher because of how he was, Chance found him to be awesome though. He slowly slipped out of the group unoticed and as sneaky as he was and luck on his side he made it to the forest where he had coverage and made his way to Chloe.

When he got up to her he tugged her hair slightly and grinned. "Skipping class, tsk tsk. I expect more of you, Chloe." He said grinning at her. Of course he was teasing her but it was rather fun. "What will poor Mr.Keating think? You're going to break the guy's heart once he finds out you skipped his class for little ol' moi." He said chuckling. "He'll get extremely jealous." He spokeonce more letting her speak while flashing her a smile.

(Will edit in Nina and Emilee soon. )

"Use me as bait?" Sinclair repeats, frowning at Lukas, having finally recovered from his giggle fit, "Ok. Fine. I'll do it. You'll see." He pushes his chair out and stand, picking his way through the other desks and chairs to the front of the class. "But please remember" he says over his shoulder, grinning,"That if I die, Lukas made me do it." He glances across at Keating as he gets closer to the desk, but their teacher's face betrays nothing, so he carries on. He stops a few feet away and crouches down to the rabbit's level, "Well, hello" he coos at it. The rabbit stares back at him, and he tries to remember back to the rabbits his little sisters kept in the garden back home; had they all had the same wide, black eyes as this one? Another glance in Keating's direction, and he reaches out to pet it between the ears, tentatively. It doesn't seem to mind that, and he throws the others a triumphant grin over his shoulder.





Tabbi can hear someone, through the fog of half-sleep, calling her name, but she doesn't have the energy to acknowledge them, so she just plays dead. The hand on her foot is harder to ignore, though; she's always been horribly ticklish and her feet are a particularly sensitive spot. She sits, bolt upright, "Stopitpoppy!" she says, so quickly that it becomes one long word. She looks at Poppy, grumpy, "What do you want? Haven't you heard that I'm on my death bed?"

Keating's eye twitched once or twice during the "class discussion". It peeved him a tad- okay, maybe a tad was a bit of an understatement - that so few of his students were taking this whole ordeal seriously. His irritation only grew as they idly chattered on as if this wasn't a large portion of their grade. It even got so bad that Chloe went so far as to perkily swoop out of his class after he'd just waited for her arrival to begin. It was her grade and she had the right to throw it away if she wanted, yes, but it was his ego and when it was being poked at he had a tendency to snap. He pinched the bridge of his nose, focusing on heavy breathing so he didn't explode. "Temper, temper!" he could picture his wife always saying. Suddenly, the urge to growl obscenties at the infernal blue eyed girl had dissipated and he was left with a twang of hollowness. Well, there went his rage but it seemed to have been replaced by an unwelome memory.

By the time he'd been through sulking in the past, he looked up to see Sinclair approaching the front of the class room. If he hadn't been so sobered up at the moment, he might have reacted more than simply raising his brows a tad. Oh, he wasn't... he woudln't possibly... Ah, well, it seemed all logic and reasoning had, in fact, vanished from the building. He kept his face straight the entire time though he had to admit, he honestly had not expected this. When the stupid boy had even gone so far as to pet the fluffy creature, though, he coudln't help it. He face palmed and laughed one of those laughs that weren't actually a laugh but more of a grim and dark expressions of "are you fucking kidding me?" The boy turned around to grin like a proud babboon (seemed to suit him this morning) which was the exact time that the sweet little bunny rabbit a mere inches away from his face began to act peculiarly.

Suddenly, it began to twitch and sputter as if it was choking on something large, but the convulsions turned more violent and disturbing in a very short amount of time. Suddenly its whole body was racked with the shivers and then... two gnrarly heads sprouted on other side of the bunny's, and its body began to grow in size, doubling in a matter of seconds. The sound of joints cracking and skin tearing roared like a symphony in front of the class room. It leapt from the stool onto the floor where it hissed and snarled at Sinclair, fangs bared. It made gestures like any intimidated beast did - not necesssarily like it was just dying to take a bite out of you, but like it was frightened and would attack if you didn't back off. Boone had to hide his smirk behind his hand, but he really wanted to laugh at the whole class' expressions. He was able to hold it back so that only one snorted chuckle came out but he pretended it was a cough. "What idiots." he thought, still bound to his vow of silence.

---

Okay, so maybe walking up to some guy he didn't even know when he was clearly somewhat out of it hadn't been the best social move on his part. As soon as he saw William raise his hand to sheepishly rub the back of his neck, shying away from the entirely awkward exchange, Nova suddenly wished he had been born with the power of invisibility or to turn back time or even levitation so he could immediately fly off into the distance where he could berate himself for his innate ability to screw up most every social interaction up in space. He sort of cringed- not the full fledged "I'm in pain" sort of cringe but more of a casual face you'd make when someone proposed that you all go skinny dipping completely sober - and nodded in response. Well, at least Hawk had been nice about it. "Yeah, er, ah... don't... mention it." he muttured back in response, not quite able to meet his eyes. The words were more sincere than he'd care to admit. Indeed, mentioning this awkward exchange again didn't seem to be in the best of interest of either party memeber. What had he been thinking? He gave a half hearted wave before slinking back off to his group like an injured puppy dog.

He came back to his group with a feigned smile but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Well, ready to attack like a pack of vicious sloths?" he asked, cracking his neck on either side as he did. He would be an optimist, he would be an optimist, he would be an optimist... He met the nervous face of Aria who seemed to be thinking the same thing he was. How in the hell were they going to pull this assignment off? He grinned wryly at her.

(Laptop malfunctioned and it sent in my post when i didnt even have 1 sentence typed in. Goddammit!)

Still smiling expectantly, Arissa patiently waited for the battle strategy teacher's answer. She knew that Mr. Cadwell is not the one to favor a group to another, being a man with a strong sense of justice and fairness, and because of that he may resort to have them draw lots or anything of the like just to decide who will be the attacker or defender for this game. Seeing that her team can't afford to lose the chance to be the attacker, she opted to speak out several of the reasons why they should be allowed to strike first.

"Mr. Cadwell, I think the best choice for everyone of us is to be the attacking team, I don't think the other group has a problem with it. Besides you can clearly see how outnumbered we are. If we are to be the defending team, we will surely lose without batting an eyelash."

She gestured nonchalantly to her teammates, making Mr. Cadwell see how few they are compared to the other group. As she expected, Emilee and Malcolm did join the other team together with Lloyd Scarlet and because of that she strengthened her enthusiasm to show her favorite teacher that though they are receiving the short stick for this game, her team will still be the one winning this battle.

She became silent for a moment before gracing Mr. Cadwell one her indulging smiles, "Thank you Mr. Cadwell, we will certainly do our best for this task!" Arissa beamed at the black-haired teacher, assuming that he will not argue with her logic and started walking back to where Tristan and the others are.

Now that she's walking to where they are currently situated, the brunette can see how truly disheartened her team members looked. She knew perfectly well that they are thinking how are they going to pull off as the attackers but she paid much concern. Once they agreed to have her in the team; she decided that if they wanted to win this, they would have to at least tolerate her being the leader, along with that her decisions and strategies for the group. She may not be a great battle strategist like the children of Athena or Ares, but still she have common sense and enough wit to think of the most plausible scenario to succeed in this one.

Impishly smiling at them, she stopped in front and called their attention. If these people were her own mandatory group-mates for a certain class activity or assignment, she'd surely do all she could to make them snap into focus and out of that depressed bubble they coated themselves in, unattached and without one care for their emotional being. But they are not, and studying this scene in another perspective, she knew that of this would be the most critical one where she can't afford to lose team members.

She really needed their help if she wanted to show Mr. Cadwell how dedicated and devoted she is to his classes.

Looking at Aria and Nova, both of those who looked more flustered out of the five, she tried nodding to them encouragingly. She knew that she will have to try being a little 'compassionate' for these groups else she'd face utter embarrassment in front of Mr. Alexander Cadwell, the only teacher who's most worthy listening to in this Academy.

Squaring her shoulders and gathering all of the patience she can muster, she pasted an innocent smile in her face. "OK, now that we have confirmed the standings for the set-up of each team, I would like to explain the plans now. If any of you has problems with it, I would hear about them after I speak."

She spoke to them in an authoritative manner, her voice loud enough to be heard but still softer than normal to avoid eavesdropping from the other team. She stared at them individually, looking at each one of them before addressing the group as a whole once again.

"I know we're not close and because of that I don't think we'd have enough team dynamics to win this battle if we are on the defense. If we are to defend for this round, we will be pulverized in a matter of seconds into the game. I know this because in order to successfully defend a base you must have general awareness and trust with each other. Which a thing we lack, obviously. My only condition for you guys is this, do your task well. Perform your best and I'm dead certain that we will win." She stopped talking and watched their different reactions.

Moments later when she thought she'd given them enough time, she continued still maintaining the same stance from before. "I'm going to give your tasks and parts for this team." Arissa approached the Child of Hephaestus and the one who can control fire in their group. She knew how clumsy and accident-prone he is and she considered not having him with the attacking group. She looked at him and pointed to the pole with their flag nearby.

"Nova, I want you to create a ring of fire around the pole that would make a barrier for our flag from the other team. I saw how arrogant Lloyd looked before and I'm sure he's got some annoying plans. Do not let them take our flag at all cost."

She then turned to the others, her eyes casting calculatingly towards Danni and Tristan first before going over to the remaining team members, "You two will be the ones who will approach the other team and attack them. Tristan don't fail to use your ability, like what Mr. Cadwell told us. Aria, I want you to sneak behind the other team if you can, be discreet about it as much as possible. But if you cannot continue with this task, also use your clarity to ensure that none of us gets mad with Portia's ability. Ethy, you and I will support Danni and Tristan. I want you to create earthquakes or anything that would disrupt their formations and defenses. I would do the same. We should make sure to attack Portia, for obvious reasons and then Juliette and Emilee since that foresight things of theirs would be a hindrance to our team. Do you have any objections?"

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Once she entered her room, the first thing that Nissa did after setting her things on a nearly table, is to open the curtains wide open to allow the morning sunlight to enter the darkened room. She aired the little dust that accumulated out of the room deciding against opening the air conditioner so early during the day. Tucking some of the stray hairs away of her face, she started her morning routine of partially cleaning things, this time every bit of dirt she can find.

After finishing this, she went over her table and neatly arranged her things on top of it. She's not normally this orderly daily but there are certain times that Nissa spontaneously cleans every dust and dirt that her eyes comes across.

Remembering her class schedule and having an inkling to what the planned lessons of Mr. Keating and Mr. Cadwell are- adding to the fact the ball which will be held later that night, the brown-haired girl can simply deduce that her students will not be focused on the class this afternoon. She'll have to change that though. Some of the students easily take Greek Mythology for granted because they thought they knew everything they had to know about it.

As a lover of the Greek Mythology itself, Nissa can clearly (and adamantly) attest that there's more to be learned about the subject. She will make it certain to have her students see that too.

Opening her lesson plan, she compared her notes from previous activities for the day. She never lets herself get into a monotonous way of teaching that would surely add fuel for the excuse of seeing Greek Myth as something boring. Recalling the plan she conjured during the crack of dawn, she was glad to see that she never tried this kind of approach before. No doubt, her students will be surprised with what she have for them later on.

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Lance shut his phone off forcibly, irritation playing in his features. Running his right palm over his face, he lied back down on his bed with a soft plop. He stared at the ceiling of his room, lost in his thoughts. The latest conversation with his girlfriend is still running through his mind.

"I can't talk to you right now, Lance."

He can still hear her voice, weary and full of exhaustion. It was as if this thing had been making a great toll on her, which the Child of Poseidon knew quite well. He himself is getting tired of the fighting over and over again. Judging things from before, their relationship months ago had been much more tolerable than it was right now. He didn't know what went wrong, but every time, without fail, they will always find something to argue about. Be it her disappearing acts or his suffocating ways, anything seemed to easily ruffle both their patience into oblivion.

He let out a tired sigh and unconsciously stared at the alarm clock near his bed. He never bothered to use the damned thing, he preferred to wake up by himself during the time he usually wanted to. The annoying penguin shaped clock had been a gift from his father, back when he thought it would be a great idea to prank his 16 year-old son.

Grabbing the clock, feeling his irritation ebbing away, he noted that he should have been at Boone's class an hour ago. Figuring that he was too late to attend, he might as well pass class for today. He took off his crumpled shirt, the one that he slept with since last night and went into the bathroom. Taking off his other clothes, he entered the shower and turned it on, clearing his head away from the negative thoughts.

And it did help a lot. There is something in the water that soothes him,. It may be of the fact that he is a Child of Poseidon, the god over the waters and oceans but also because there is some sense of tranquility that water never fails to provide. He can never explain it, but the water calls to him in ways he can't give words into.

He didn't know how long he had stayed in there. But after he turned off the knob of the shower close; he had felt more relaxed than before. He decided he'll just give Jessica some time. It was what both of them needed anyway. Approaching their situation with hot heads will not make it better. A day. He concluded. He'd give her a day, one full day to cool off and after that, he will allow her to explain her latest disappearance.

Malcolm walked over to Cadwell with Gregis in tow. He walked right up to him and slammed the deer that was around his neck down in front of the teacher. "Sorry we're late Mr. C. Here's a little present for ya to show how sorry Emilee and I feel. Well, I'll better be off and join a team and what not." Malcolm said with a big smile and walked off in the direction Emilee went as soon as he got his armor and sword. As he walked over to the tram Emilee was apart of, he saw the rival team and made a note of their players. He then turned back to his team and made a note of them as well. "I can definitely make this work." Malcolm said to himself confidently. He caught up to the team and walked over to the main group of them.

"Hey, sorry we're late guys, the forest was calling us. Anyway, Ive got a strategy that will give us the advantage offensively and defensively. Any objection to hearing it?" Malcolm asked politely as he looked around. After no one said anything in the negative, he decided to speak. "Excellent, thanks guys. Anyway, here's my idea. Lloyd will make a general distraction with one of his big power shows. I'm talk'in the works. You can do anything you feel like doing within the confines of drawing peoples attention. We also want to focus on the weakest and strongest links on the enemy team. That means I want you guys to focus a lot of attacks on Nova and Ethy. Just keep Nova running or just take him down, it doesn't really matter which. We need Ethy to be tripped up, blinded, defeaned, essentially, I don't really want her to know which way is up. It should help us by some time from the onslaught of Arissa. We know she's going to throwing lightning bolts like nobodies business, so I don't want anyone engaging her directly. She will be distracted with helping out her team, she won't have time to cover everyone." Malcolm looked around to make sure they were paying attention. "Alright, Nina. You are the main flag defender. If you can, have the plants from the forests help guard the flag. I'm talking tripwires and root tangling or anything else you can think of. Jules, Emilee, your our eyes. I want you to keep up on the trees and alert any strange behavior in their formation. If there is something you can do to help us, do it from the trees. Like throwing rocks or using your training arrows. Don't be afraid to hurt them, they will be throwing fire balls and lightning bolts at them, I think we can throw rocks." He said looking at them. "Generally also keep the est of their players around the middle of the field, but no one engage Dani......she's mine." Malcolm said with a somewhat wicked grin on his face. "Now, Pete. I want you and Chance to sneak around and grab the flag. Pete, I want you to do the sneaking, Chance will just back you up with some extra luck mojo. You got that Chance?" Malcolm said looking around. He couldn't see chance. "Where did Chance go?"

Malcolm looked around and then saw him behind the tree line. "Hold up guys." Malcolm said to them, then jogged over to where Chance was. "Yo, Chance! You coming back, buddy? We need you." He then saw who Chance was talking to. "Oh, hey Chloe! What's up? Aren't you supposed to be in Keating's class right now? Ditchin' again, huh?" Malcom said jokingly accusatory manner. "Anyway, you coming or not, man?"

Alphonse sighed heavily as he sat down on his bed, staring at the outside world from his cabin with a look crossing between utterly boredom and sheer curiosity. He had just arrived to the Olympus Academy not three hours ago and just finished unpacking his things. Looking at his cabin, Alphonse's fingers traced the wooden desk near the window as the light dancing happily on it, completely unaware of the pair of eyes that were looking at it, observing it, studying it. Alphonse mumbled underneath his breath "...Mother..." Alphonse's eyes darkened for a minute, the sadness inside of it was too much for a teenager to have...But it disappeared as quickly as it came, leaving a cheerful Alphonse as his fingers left the table and he turned around. Alphonse blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to forget the image of the fountain of water with rainbow on the way to his cabin...Even if he could contact his Mother easily that way, he didn't want to bother her because, after all, she was a goddess and he was only a mortal...well, half mortal. He loved his parents dearly and he didn't want to bother them just because he missed them. Alphonse hastily wiped his face and put on a bright grin as he grasped his headphone and put it on, turning the volume.

Looking at his wardrobe, Alphonse had a thoughtful expression for a moment, unsure which outfits he should wear. Glancing at the mirror and at the closet again, the teenager decided to go for a simple white t-shirt and blue jeans - his two favorite colors. He ran a hand through his hair, making it even messier than it had been but really...who cared? His hair had always been like that since he was young anyway. He gave a final glance at his reflection on the mirror and chuckled, mostly to himself "...lookie, lookie...who's this handsome guy?" He shook his head and smiled brightly. Grasping his backpack which consisted of some blank papers, a pen and a small notebook and headed out. Grinning like a madman, Alphonse bumped his fist into the air and yelled "...Hello, Olympus Academy...Here I come!!!" As he walked passed the water fountain which had a small colorful rainbow, Alphonse stopped but didn't turn around. After a minute or so, Alphonse continued to walk, his pace had slowed down considerably but he still didn't look back.


"It's nice to be here, Mother...Thank you..." Alphonse whispered.

Ethy looked across at Arissa and stretched. She wasn't dressed for physical combat, especially not capture the flag but she liked to think herself special in the sense she didn't need to be kited up to kick ass. 
"I'm no genius but I say we take out their battle strategist too. Which is without a doubt Malcolm the magnificent" she mumbled. "Without a leader they'll be skittish and hopefully unorganised in their defence as well."

She'd thought about it and didn't like the looks she was receiving from the opposing team. Personally she was difficult to anger but that didn't mean she didn't get ruffled by certain things. Being attacked got the blood pumping and it ruffled her...she didn't see the point in getting herself hyped up to attack people she didn't actually want to hurt. Still Arissa had a good plan considering their numbers. 

She gave a loose salute to her team leader and looked over at the other team. Pointing at a few of the stronger members she pretended to slit her throat with a finger sticking her Tongue out of the corner of her mouth.


(will add poppys post)

Chloe Huntington

Chloe's head popped out of her bedroom door, peering sneakily around. She was on the look out for any of her brothers, well, half brothers really, or that silly boy Chance. Most mornings, it was a race between the children of Poseidon to reach the banks of the lake, to try and nab the best spot that there was for swimming, and keeping towels dry. Sometimes even Nathan Hensleigh, the good old History teacher sometimes came to the lake in the mornings, for a wake-up dip. She was the only daughter of Poseidon at Olympus Academy, which meant she had a reputation to uphold. Her dorm room was one of those closest to the lake, so she had a little of a head start when it came to getting there first. She spotted no movement with her eyes, and decided that the coast was clear. She felt like she was part of MI5, as she crept her way cautiously towards the lake, keeping her eyes open for any signs of a water demi-god.

With her towel slung over her shoulder, and the lake in sight, Chloe was soon whistling a happy tune as she walked. It seemed as if she was the first one to arrive, with no other towels around or any movement in the water. She could be totally wrong; they didn't all rush to the lake every morning, maybe the boys were having a lie-in? Who knew. She plopped her towel down by the big oak tree that stood next to the water, the only large mass of shade around, and slipped out of her outfit, revealing her bikini underneath.

Then, she disappeared under the waves, diving in perfect form into the deepest end of the lake. She stayed under the water for a good few minutes, her eyes open, looking around at the scenery she had grown so accustomed to over the years that she had been at Olympus Academy. She let out a few soft breaths, the bubbles appearing in front of her making her giggle. They always did - sometimes, in moments like this, she couldn't believe that she actually was breathing underwater, or her father was the brother of the all powerful Zeus - but it was all true. After a few tranquil moments of being under the water, she began to kick her feet, propelling her body upwards. Within seconds, her head broke the surface, her eyes closed, blocking them from the already scorching sunshine.

---

Lukas Tricon

Lukas groaned and buried his head deeper under his duvet, as the insistent beeping of his alarm clock rung through his ears, begging him to wake up and get a start to the day. But today, he wasn't feeling like waking up, getting out of bed, and being the happy boy that he had been a few weeks ago. Because he wasn't that boy any more. Nope, he was shriveling, weeping mess. That sounds really unmasculine and soppy, but it was true. Lukas had barely left his dorm room in weeks, only for food, occasional lessons, or when his twin Nova had literally dragged him out into the sunshine. He couldn't help it though - everything reminded him of her. His Clover.

She had been at this school, the Olympus Academy for Demi-Gods for a little while, but had dumped him and left the campus on their one year anniversary. She hadn't given him a reason; she had just stopped talking to him, packed up all of her things, and left. She had even dropped off the little silver charm bracelet onto his doorstep on her way out. He had never felt about anyone the way he did about Clover, and she had literally crushed him, and took every bit of happiness and life out of him with her, wherever she had gone to. Going outside reminded him of her, the sunrise reminding him of her gorgeous red hair, the chirping of birds reminding him of her melodious voice when she sang, the laughing of other girls around the campus reminding him how much he had loved hearing her laugh. He hated himself for feeling this way, for not hating her for leaving him like this, for feeling so sorry for himself that he couldn't do anything any more - but he just couldn't help it. She had been his rock, his life, his everything, and she had broken him.

Without her around, Lukas had closed up - not just himself into his room, but he had closed off her personality, his happiness, and his friends. Many had tried to coax him out of his room, but he hadn't wanted to leave - when he was in this sort of mood, Lukas was an extremely stubborn boy, and it would take a miracle to get him to move now. His hand reached out from underneath the warmth of his quilt, smacking the button on top of his alarm, snooze.

Today wasn't the day to be getting up and out into the world again.
Today was another wallowing-in-self-pity day.

---

Vanessa Tate

R.I.P. to the girl you use to see.
Her days are over, baby she's over...

Rita Ora's song played through the headphones, leading the song into the ears of the Latina woman. Her feet pounded against the forest floor as she ran, each foot smacking against the dirt in time with the beat. Her breath was steady as she made her way through her ready-made path, weaving in and out of the trees, dodging roots and ducking underneath branches. Every morning, Vanessa woke up at six AM, put on her jogging clothes, plugged her iPod into her ears, and left as quietly as she could, heading out into the woods for a two hour run. When she was running, Ness felt a sense of freedom flow through her, as if she could never be caught, never be confined, and never be ensnared. She was at her very best and happiest when she was running, and she always had a smile upon her face.

Ness had been a runner for as long as she could remember, and coming to Olympus Academy hadn't changed anything. Her running time had grown, from only being half an hour when she first arrived here, to the two hours that she would do every morning now. Sometimes she takes her bow and arrow with her, and do a little bit of archery practice, but she found that it was slightly irritating to run with, even with it slung over her back. So this morning, like most, it was just her, her music and the nature surrounding her.

Ness' mood instantly dropped slightly as she came out of the glades, as it usually did, her sense of freedom and care-freeness disappearing as she left behind the comfort of the trees. She slowed down, stopping her run, so that she was walking, and pulled her earphones out. She paused for a moment, resting her palms on her knees, taking in a few deep breaths. She could see the dorms now, and knowing that a shower was just minutes away, her mood brightened back up again. Reaching up to her hair, the Latina pulled out her ponytail, letting her long brunette waves tumble down her back. A small wave was sent in the direction of Jules, daughter of Apollo, who was walking past her, before she entered into her room.

After just under an hour, she was out of the shower, ready made up, and exiting her room dressed in this, heading towards her history classroom.

Ava Sawyer



Ava Sawyer groaned loudly as the alarm on her pone began to ring loudly “oh piss off” she grumbled grumpily hitting the snooze button before resting her head back onto the pillow, as her eyes once more closed although her peace didn’t last long when her alarm went off once more five minutes later. Sighing loudly she sat up rubbing her face before turning her alarm off, sitting there for a moment Ava let her eyes adjust to the bright sunlight streaming through her curtains, it was difficult to get up when your bed felt so welcoming and warm. Yet class was beckoning her and she certainly wasn’t going to miss her favourite class, Mr Hensleigh’s History, kicking her covers down she flung her legs over the side of her bed, feeding her feet into her warm fluffy slippers, before hurrying into the bathroom to shower, wash and brush her teeth.

Ava remerged from the bathroom twenty minutes later and proceeded to make her bed and pick out today’s outfit, laying it on the bed and then sat down at her dressing table where she dried and straightened her hair before applying her makeup. Ava was about to rise from the stool when she caught sight of a picture, situated among many that sat around her mirror, one of her a Clover, a sudden wave of sadness overwhelmed her with Clover’s sudden departure from the Academy, leaving behind her friends and boyfriend and had failed to contact them since, it was like she wanted nothing to do with them and that was extremely upsetting for many people. As her sadness was replaced with anger she scrunched up the photo and threw it across her room into the small trash can before standing up and dressed for the day ahead.

It wasn’t long after that Ava left her room, locking it behind her and walked down the long white washed corridors towards the canteen in hopes of picking up a quick breakfast, upon entering the large hall she saw it bustling with students, making her way to the deli she picked up an apple and bottle of water for herself having never really been a big eater yet also picked up a bacon sandwich and an orange juice and placed it into a paper bag before leaving the cafeteria, walking back down the corridor towards the male dorms and she soon found herself outside Lukas room.

Knocking lightly she released a small sigh “Lukas, I know you don’t want to talk to anyone, but I brought you some breakfast... I’ll just leave it outside ya door” she spoke softly, placing the bag down before turning to walk away towards her history class, up a head of her she caught sight of the familiar Latina “Hey Ness” she called out to her friend.

Nate opened his right eye to look at the clock, groaning to realize he'd awoken at 4 am. He had a truly messed up sleeping schedule, which consisted of him not really sleeping. Three hours it had been this time, and it hadn't been much more the last couple of days either. Problem was, he couldn't go back to sleep. He was wide awake and so, he merely opened his left eye too, a resigned sigh emanating from his lips. Suppose it was just as well, though as it meant he could go for a swim and still be in his assigned classroom an hour before the students would start to arrive. Students... he still thought it a little weird that he had an entire group of students as he was the only history teacher. His eyes widened a little as he realized what day it was; Thursday... Thursday meant Ness, and Ness meant awkwardness. And secrets. So many secrets. Having your ex as a student? Well, Nathan could've lived his life without that, being pretty content.

He adored the girl, sure, and he'd missed her, even though he hadn't really been in love with her, after they'd broken up, but they couldn't let anyone find out. The shock of seeing her at the Academy in the first place had been overwhelming. He'd assumed her to be just another human, definitely not a daughter of Nike. He hadn't seen her in years - about three years to be exact and this had been the last place he'd expected her to be. The handsome teacher ran a hand through his messy hair and a made a face. Well, smile and wave, Nate. There's a long day ahead of you.... he thought. Actually Nathan had about four classes on Thursdays, so it wasn't too bad. Except for starting out with Ness'. It's not that he held any ill feelings towards her at all, because honestly, Ness was probably the sweetest girl he'd ever met, but the fact her father had been the one to stop the relationship? Well, Nate had a certain pride to maintain. He wondered how her dad would react to the fact that Nate was now her teacher. The thought made him smile a little.

Meanwhile, Nate's thought running amok as always in the morning, he got up, grabbed his bathing shorts off the back of a chair in his room, put them on and made his way to the lake. No one else would be up this early, so he got to enjoy the silence and solitude. Sometimes that was very appreciated in the midst of all the crazy in this place. It was warm out, so he had to no need of putting anything atop his swimming attire, making it easy for him to start running not far from the lake and then take a jump, landing far out in the still water with an audible splash. He sighed as the calming quality of the water soothed his mind. No more worrying over Ness. Things would work out, and if not... well, she'd probably be leaving soon, being 19 and all. That's when he'd left.

.....

Having bathed in the lake for about two hours, Nathan Hensleigh, history teacher at the Olympus Academy, slowly walked back to his humble abode to grab a shower and dress in this (without the jacket). After said deeds, the 24 year old gathered his papers in his briefcase and casually strode along the path to his classroom. Upon reaching the door, being 1½ hours early, he unlocked it and stepped inside before pushing it shut once more. He smiled, looking around the room he was growing to love. In truth, he'd hated history back when he'd studied at the academy, but he'd later realized, upon taking it in college, the importance of the subject, and how interesting it could really be once you had the right teacher. He remembered his old history teacher, Miss Hannigan as a rigid old hag, so it was really no wonder he hadn't liked the subject. She'd been a daughter of Athena, if he remembered correctly. Now, that was not to say that he had anything against those descending from the Goddess of wisdom, but he much preferred Aphrodite's girls... Cough, okay, so he wasn't supposed to be thinking stuff like that. He taught several of them, for Christ's sake. Fact never kept his mind from wandering though.

Nathan sighed and plopped himself down into the big, soft chair behind his wooden teacher's desk, just before the blackboard. They should really get some smart-boards soon, like he'd seen at college - keep up with the modern world. The darkhaired beauty of a man let his gaze wander about the room; the chairs, the tables, the big windows, the maps here and there - oh, and the drawing he and some of his old demigod buddies had made, in the corner. He couldn't believe it was still there after 5 years. It showcased Napoleon and Hitler arguing about who did the best job of attempting world-dominance. Really, Miss Hannigan should've been proud they'd even taken notice of the names in the first place, but no, she'd had them punished. He smiled to himself, leaning back in his chair. He'd rather kill himself than become a teacher like that.

Then Nathan took out papers from his briefcase and read them over. On his first day, he had given the kids an assignment. They were to write a two-page essay about what they thought most important in history - whatever period interested them most, really. It was only an intro, and he hadn't given them more than a week to do it. Really he'd done it to see where interest was centered, and perhaps how much they'd learned of writing proper essays in history. They probably hated him already for the short time-span, but he had to start things a little rough. So yes, he'd been pretty tough when grading the papers too, though he'd made an art of commenting on everything, so that they knew exactly what to change for next time.

Now he'd been at the school for almost three weeks, and he'd finished grading papers last night, so he was ready to hand them back. He was hoping they improved, because he saw promise in their papers, even though it appeared that the majority had no clue how to properly write a history essay, at least when dealing with Nathan. He expected a lot from his students, mainly because he wanted them to excel.

The teacher waited, reading to make sure he'd gotten everything and had given fair grades for everyone. When the door opened to reveal the first student of the day, he had to fight himself not to give into the awkwardness related to the girl. He cleared his throat, put his papers down on the desk and smiled at her. "Morning, Vanessa," he said, a little stiff, sensing someone else close behind her.

Fen Wiley

It’d been precisely four hours since he went to sleep the night before. Once he’d been able to get asleep, he was sure nothing could wake him up. It’s not that he was sleepy. Being near the water just soothed him, relaxed him to the point of feeling sort of drowsy. He didn’t dream. Or at least he didn’t believe he did. He’d been going over so many things in his mind, staying late by the lake to catch his thoughts. It was another one of those nights, where he spent hours thinking of everything that had happened to him over the past year or so. His mother’s death, learning he was a son of Poseidon, coming to Olympus Academy. At some points it seemed to be too much. He’d walked to the water in a daze, the moonlight washing over him as he stepped into the water and sunk down. He couldn’t tell time under water, he couldn’t feel the outside world. All that mattered was that his tension in his mind was calmed. By the time he surfaced, it was past midnight and he sat near his dry clothes, staring at the stars. Thinking.

Now, however, it wasn’t the time for thinking. He shot up from his bed, gripping the sheets tight in his fists as his neck craned to look at his alarm clock. Late. The sound coming from the small device frightened him out of his calm slumber, and he scrambled out of the tangled sheets. While he struggled a bit clumsily with turning off the clock, he calculated just how many minutes he had to take a shower and get clothed. Luckily, he’d laid out his clothes for the day and as he shuffled towards the bathroom he shed himself of his pajamas. Late. Nearly late. As he leaped from under the comforting spray of water, he reached for his towel. Fen couldn’t stand being late. It couldn’t happen for him. What if his teacher ended up being disappointed in him. But maybe he could make it just in time. Never did it occur to him that his alarm clock was wrong. Never did it pass his mind that he’d forgot to set it once he’d managed to get a new one.

As he hurried through brushing his teeth, he managed to pull on his underclothes and his denim, while finding his iPhone (which happened to be lodged underneath his mattress, luckily the earphones were on his dresser). After getting through that, he reached into his upper cabinet to snatch up his mouthwash. Fen gargled as he threw on his top and pulled on his suspenders. “I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date! No time to say hello, goodbye! I'm late!” He muttered to himself after spitting into his sink and turning off the faucet.

Finally dressed in this, Fen threw open his room door and dashed out, letting it fall shut behind him. It was then that he noticed the clock in the hallway, as well as a few students walking around with friends. "Wait.." Slightly embarrassed, he made his way down the hall with his head down, watching his feet. How could he not notice that his alarm clock was wrong? Why didn't he remember to set it and the alarm last night before his adventure to the lake? Fen Wiley, you are brainless. After stepping out of the guy's dorm, he took a turn to get to the cafeteria. Of course, perhaps he had time to go the long way just past the lake?

With his denim jacket tossed over his arm, he roamed through the Academy yard. His thoughts barely strayed from seeing the comforting waters as he breathed in the clean air. Fen wouldn't be surprised if he saw one of his half-siblings down by the water; they all managed to get near it at least once a day, and often they met there. He wouldn't be surprised to see his Chloe there. Although he figured that perhaps his relationships with his other half-siblings were close, he knew that he was the closest to her. They took care of each other, they stood together. When he made it to the lake, he let his jacket fall into the shade underneath the oak tree where he could clearly see a towel hanging. A crooked smile lit up his features and he began to cuff his jeans so that he could at least step into the water. He gazed out towards the horizon, by then having seen Chloe. He could feel how calm she was; she felt the way he had only last night. As he took a few steps into the water, he grinned childishly. "It's a bit early don't you suppose?" Fen shouted out towards his half-sister.

When it came to the Tricons siblings, it was almost kind of funny how often their roles switched. Lukas was seen by the general public as the more mature, practical, and functional of the two - truly more of an older brother than an identical twin at times... which was true. Nova couldn't deny his childish antics and overall naievity. But it had always seemed that when heart break struck, suddenly Nova adopted a new disposition, a guard dog of sorts. Even when their grandmother (who'd raised them as children like the mother they'd tragically lost at an early age) died a few years back, Lukas had been absolutely torn to pieces and continued to be for ages, while Nova was somehow able to move on and understand a loss for what it was- a building block to new grounds. Then again, perhaps Nova's reaction was less mature because of this, too, like a child barely bothered by much of anything at all. No matter who was wrong or who was right (did that even exist anymore?) Nova couldn't help but be reminded of that time now as he watched his brother crumble to pieces among himself over his ex-girl, Clover. He doubted that the boy had even heard him enter his dorm, but he knew he wouldn't really mind all too much. This was the kid who'd bathed with him for years as children, so privacy kind of goes down the drain at that point.

"Lukas, I made you some brownies." Nova said simply, voice chipper but not overbearingly so- just a dash of sunlight piercing through the dark room. Speaking of which, he waltzed in and placed the tray on the table before kicking off his shoes and scurrying to turn the lights on in one motion. "Gotta get outta bed today, Lukey. Got class." he stated, less of a nag and more of a fact. He used the nickname their grandparents had given him simply by habit, not really realizing that it could have somehow been an emasculating gesture. He made his way back over to where his twin was situated, unwrapping one of the chocolatey treats, plopping down next to him, pulling the covers down his face, and waving the baked good in front of his nose. Nova completely disregarded any signs of tear staining or runny noses, treating the moping boy like he would have any other day.

Nova may have been somewhat bad at handling social situations, but he knew his brother, and knew not to mention anything about Clover or how he was feeling. That much was apparent. Clover had destroyed him, one hundred percent. She was a great gal, but Nova couldn't say it was terribly surprising. She was prone to fits of wild mental afflictions and sometimes, no matter how great those are around you happen to be, you just have to get out of somewhere in order to feel free. It was a rude and selfish thing Clover had done, but Nova could understand why she'd done it. Naturally, he wished it hadn't affected his other half the way it had. He was surprised when the voice of Ava could be heard after a quiet knocking. “Lukas, I know you don’t want to talk to anyone, but I brought you some breakfast... I’ll just leave it outside ya door.” she had said. Nova's eyebrows raised and he regarded the surprising visit. When he thought about it, he supposed they were rather good friends. "They love ya, they really love ya!" he called out, more to humor himself than his brother. But it was true! Lukas had tons and tons and tons of friends who were just dying to see him bright and happy again, and Nova wanted that more than anything as well in this current moment. As if being snapped out of a reverie, he began waving the brownie back in his face again. "Come on, eat up. They're really good. I already had six so I'd know."

---

Good ol' Mr. Keating was feeling rather... well... sour. He was seated in his usual classroom at his usual chair in his usual tie with the usual, signature coffee mug, and he was processing through the dull but potent heach ache that throbbed at the back of his temples. He hadn't done much sleeping. To be honest, he hadn't gotten any at all - and not because he was chasing up skirts but because he was too bothered to do it. It seemed lately that he was just increasingly more and more frustrated, a certain level of irritability crawling up his spine and locking him in a choke hold for the past couple weeks. Because I refused to acknowledge the possibility of him having feelings that possibly needed sorting through, that meant that he'd hit a lot of reading and had reclused more these days, spending less time in the teacher's lounge to socialize and more time in his own living arrangements, cooped up to spend hours at a time emersing himself in other worlds that were as far, far, far away from his terrbily fucked up one. That is, when he wasn't hassling Nate or Amarie.

Where was he again? Oh. Right. Power control class. Today would be an ordinary day where he'd order the class to work on demonstrating their skills and walk up to ones who needed appropriate guidance or congratulations. This meant that all the desks were pushed to the side, leaving a big empty space in the middle of his room. He sighed, taking a deep gulp of coffee before dipping his nose back into the spine of Everything Is Illuminated. Why was he assigned morning classes again? Oh, yeah, because the universe hated him.

There was always something pleasant about the waking of a new virgin morning. Maybe it was the sweet smell of earth refreshed, or the way the dawn seemed to mingle in a tryst of rose, orange, and soft cerulean. Whatever it was that made it feel like magic, in all of its wondrous glory and awe, it did not matter much to Amarie. Everything was wonderful to her. This child of Aphrodite was well-known to being an early riser, always very wary of time and its constraints. It was all just a piece of adjusting to the reality of this word from having been lost in a night of dreaming. A quick shower had been the first thing in order, then she stared at the mirror after brushing that shining ivory enamel. Giving her light blue orbs a little taste of her beauty, she decided that it was about that time to head off into the classroom. As always, her attire was kept fairly simple; a light pink blouse, white pencil skirt that hemmed at her knees, and a pair of pumps congruent to the shade of her top. That mane of gold at her crown was relaxed in a low bun, allowing for the free fall of wayward strands at her face and down the nape of her neck. A spot of light brown touched her cheekbones, as well as a meager application of eye make-up. She did not need anything too fancy, as the students already swooned after Nathan Hensleigh. Sure, he made the eyes widen, but she was very wary of other men; especially the ones that appealed instantly to the senses.

The dulcet of feet playing off against the surface of the school's corridors followed the swift exit of her personal quarters. The students had a little pop quiz to see if they were really reading any of the books that she gave to them. It was a realization that she may be considered dull and monotone, when all she really wanted to do was delve into the brains of her students. It could not be helped that literature was not an exciting subject, but maybe they would enjoy something much more adventurous to read. Regardless of how the students reacted to her teaching, further more the genre in which she chose, she did it with a brilliant and illuminating smile and enthusiasm. They may not enjoy it, but she most certainly did; every single second of it. When she lost herself in a book, not only did she feel mentally engaged, but she also held an emotional attachment to the characters therein. It was the fanatic dreamer in her. No reality was ever good enough, so the artistic creations were always her best bet. There was something lovely about the architecture of books, and the way that the styles mimicked the emotions of their authors. Her favorite was Shakespeare... what a tragic romantic he was.

The door to her classroom crept open with the typical moan and groan of starting a new day of lessons. Shutting it behind her, Amarie closed in on her desk and plucked one of her books from atop a pile of papers. They were graded, but not harshly. She took into account that not everyone could be adamant about something she loved. For the adventurous types, like Athena's children, they were more into other things. Understandable. Young adults will be just that -- young adults. Thumbing through the classwork, which was nothing more than a series of questions and answers from 'The Divine Comedy', she made sure that each piece had an appropriate marking. The red ink of her pen didn't bleed quite as easily as some of the other teachers would have.

Placing them back onto her desk, she placed her rump on a chair. All she could do was wait for her students to show up, and nothing more. Honestly, she did not know what she was going to do today for the students. It had to be something engaging...

______

Then she drifted off to explore another world that was trapped within the confines of her mind. A daydream. Fingers curled about the straying strands of her hair, and seemingly, she was fully awake and aware. Yet, there was that sort of emptiness in her eyes, if one would play close enough attention to her. That long and slender back was flush with the spine of her chair, and in her little dream, she was back with her father, Justin McCarty. It was such a shame that she had spent all of those years wishing to be somewhere else, and now she would give anything to be back with him. The familial pair had some trying times, but they bonded so tightly despite her wayward thoughts that seemed to just spawn from her imagination and deprevation of a mother figure.

Here she was in Alabama, just Justin and her. They were seated in some old fashion diner enjoying the sweet taste of that southern tea, and dining on hamburgers. What a stupid daydream, really... so stupid. Everything was so much better here, whereas things just fell apart where she grew up. Still, she could almost taste the food, and smell that humid and rainy air.

No matter where she went - it appeared that the grass was always greener on other side.