"Yeah," Alex replied with a quiet hum, sitting down on his bed after he'd unpacked. "Sanaa graduated a few days ago. I'm proud of her," he added, adoration for his sister glimmering in his eyes. "I think she was even more excited than I was about coming here this year." Alex loved the camp to pieces, especially because everybody was like his second family, but this year, Sanaa had been the one to tell him to hurry up his packing.
Sanaa nodded, then took the lead out of the cabin, stepping back down onto the green grass. The camp seemed to be getting busier slowly but surely, though, two people in particular stood out to her. They stood in the middle of the sea of green, talking with each other excitedly. Sanaa motioned for Ben to follow as she made her way over to Ian and Joshua, calling out a greeting as she came closer. "Hey, you two, nice to see you again," she said.
"Sanaa, hi!" Joshua said, then turned his gaze to the boy following her. "Hi to you too, Ben!" He paused for a moment, then added, "We were just talking about some of the lessons we had at camp. Chiron decided that we all needed some more education, so that got us into camp school, I guess," he joked with a laugh. Ian was probably the worst of them all, though. He'd barely been able to write anything correctly, whether English or Greek. Still, he'd improved well over the months they'd been getting lessons.
Ben smiled perhaps a bit too wide when his eyes caught Joshua, however he just waved at both him and Ian. Speaking of school had him roll his shoulders a bit, sore from his textbooks he’d brought to study. “Oh, man, that sounds rough. I’m sure it’s useful, though. Do you have a break from studying for the summer?” He asked, bouncing a bit on his feet. Ben would have to spend a decent portion of the summer with his books, which he didn’t mind too much.
I know I’m only in 2 rps rn but finals are coming up and I’m gonna need more time in my day. I’ll pass on this one, sorry. Anyone is free to fix and take my character. Citrine
Prue has walked out from the Hades Cabin and looking around at other campers arriving both familiar and new faces coming back to camp for the summer, she had come back to camp only a week ago which she was already catching up on training and it seemed like a good day to spar first however meeting up with old friends again. She was looking forward to sitting by the campfire with them, sparring with them and even playing capture the flag with them again granted being a demigod anything could happen to anyone of them.
****
Nathan and Henry had carpooled to camp with the two campers walking up the hill and bags over their shoulders, “Hey Nat, what time is it?” The younger one asked the older camper with a grin on his face that would make even the Cheshire Cat proud or like he was planning something already in his devious mind. “Sure thing dude, it’s.... hey where did my- wat HENRY!” He yelled in a ‘Henry stealing something on purpose to tease’ however the son of Hermès was already down the hill laughing like a maniac and making a beeline to the cabins.
“Lovely... hope he knows it’s a fake...” Nathan chuckled to himself as he reached into his pants pocket to take out the real watch however he face-palmed when he realized it was empty, “Aanndd the real one... he’s going to be a fine cat burglar one day.”
*****
Chevy was skipping around the sparring arena with a smile on her face which she wasn’t a early riser however she came to camp bright and early this morning and was ready to start making dummies (the practice dummies) or the occasional monster around with her emoji mallet, “Yipee! Yahoo!” She cheered during her skip with her boundless energy not wavering even when a Hermès camper ran by.
******
Satoru walked slowly out from the Hermes cabin rubbing his tired eyes which he had already been claimed by his godly mother however cabin building was slow at the moment epiesecally since there were other minor godly cabins already in progress of being done or being built yet he didn’t mind all that much since he had gotten use to the other cabin members snoring it was only when his stuff ended up missing did he feel annoyed by them. Summer’s back..... maybe I can hid my stuff in Athena’s cabin or something...
"Hmm...my favorite memory? I have too many to count,but i guess, it would be the memory of meeting all you and making friends here on the forums. :3" ”One day I’m going to sit down and make a list of all the books that I finished reading....” “It's going to be a long list...”
"Yeah, we're off for the summer, too," Joshua replied, putting a hand into his pocket. "Even though Ian should really continue practicing," he teased, a smirk crawling onto his face when the boy in question prosted dramatically.
"I'm not bad for somebody who hasn't been in school for years now," he complained, though it was obvious he'd not actually taken any offense to Joshua's words.
"I suppose," Joshua laughed, putting up his hands in a 'I surrender' gesture.
"Well, it's good to know that you're at least getting educated in case you ever have to interact with anybody outside of camp," Sanaa replied, a teasing light in her eyes.
Lucia turned when she heard a loud voice, barely moving out of the way as she saw Henry running her way. She was grinning, though. "Hey, Henry, why are you running?" she called to him as he passed her. "And was that Nate screaming your name?" She seemed more amused than anything by the reasons she could come up with. Still, maybe it wasn't Henry stealing something after all, though she doubted it.
Ben grinned, raising an eyebrow toward Joshua and throwing a casual arm across Ian’s shoulders. Suppressing his smile, he said, “Leave Ian alone, I’m sure he’s working a whole lot harder than you.” His tone was teasing, and he was pretty sure Joshua wouldn’t get offended, having known him for so long. Ben’s jokes could be a bit on the mean side, but he never truly meant them.
Joshua looked amused by Ben's words, then gave a short laugh. "What makes you say that?" he asked innocently, trying to whistle, which kind of failed. He didn't let that fact bother him, though. "I work very hard, I'll let you know that!" He really did enjoy learning stuff, tho he'd been at a school for longer than certain other demigods, so stuff like vocabulary was something he didn't bother with too much
Ben pouted, not really having thought far enough into the joke to produce a witty comeback. So, he stood up a little straighter, and decided the best option was to change the subject, and seeing as he'd just been traveling for so long, he thought it'd be fair to ask, "It's been so long since I've eaten, I'm going to go get something to eat. Who wants to come?" He looked around at his friends, hoping none of them would catch him trying not to switch the topic. Ben was hungry though, as when he had told the others, his stomach growled, as if that was what he needed to realize.
Ian's eyes lit up the moment Ben mentioned going for some food and Joshua laughed. During the year, he'd gotten to know that Ian was always up for more food. Honestly, staying the whole year helped getting to know other campers that stayed the whole year.
"Food sounds good!" Ian declared loudly, a large grin on his face.
"I think I'll pass for now," Sanaa offered. "I'm going to go look around to see who else is already here. But don't let that stop you, you three."
Ben nodded to Sannaa. “Alright, see you later!” He told his sister, before turning to the boys. He stretched his arms over his head, turning in the other direction and saying, “Let’s go, I’m starving.” While Ben already knew Joshua pretty well, he hadn’t really bonded with Ian all that much in the past, so he was glad to have some time to talk to him.
“I got Nat’s Watch- watches?” Henry had skidded to a stop with the Hermès camper panting a little from the run and also from laughing however he took to watches from his pocket and seemed surprised when he saw the second one, “I thought he only had one.... don’t worry! I plan on giving then back, best way to start off the summer right Lucia?” He looked over at the Zeus camper with the mischievous grin on his face yet he did look towards the hill to see the son of aphodrite headed towards them at a normal good walking speed so he wasn’t that concerned about getting tackled.
"Hmm...my favorite memory? I have too many to count,but i guess, it would be the memory of meeting all you and making friends here on the forums. :3" ”One day I’m going to sit down and make a list of all the books that I finished reading....” “It's going to be a long list...”
"You bet I'm starving as well!" Ian said with a laugh, which made Joshua roll his eyes with a smile.
"You're gonna witness how much that guy eats soon," he told Ben jokingly. "I have no idea how he can eat that much, honestly." Ian seemed to vacuum up his plate most of the time, which was always fuller than Joshua's, anyway. It was funny, really.
Ian didn't even protest to him saying that he ate a lot, and started to lead the way instead, a small skip in his step.
Lucia giggled at that. "Seems like he came prepared. Kind of, at least," she replied, smiling as she saw Nathan appear farther away. "Honestly, it's still fascinating to me how you Hermes kids keep doing that," she admitted moments later, putting a hand to her hip. It was amazing how quickly they could steal something, without anybody noticing.
Nick's steps were determined as he saw the camp coming up, whistling a tune to himself. "See," he said, turning his head to look at Asher. "I didn't kill you with any weird Hades powers." He was joking, as was obvious by the warm light in his amber eyes.
It was weird to have this probably be his last year at the camp, but that was fine. He'd already been accepted into a college, anyway. This was just going to be a very relaxing summer, hopefully.
"Well we have to make this summer count ya'know?" Percy gave a laugh, "But I doubt this means the end with crossing paths." The red head sounded very confident in that statement. He was very methodical with how he moved, setting his place ready in no time at all. "Now then, I've got campers to greet." He put his hands on his hips admiring his work then switched over to Alex. "I'm sure you have some others you want to find." The tone of his voice changed a little bit mostly because the main person he was inferring was Asher. It wasn't like he truly hated Asher, but the blond just loved to push his buttons that he was definitely a pain.
Asher gave a pout, it wasn't serious, just something to be immature. He pulled down his sunglasses to cover his face as he spoke. "You still feel like imminent death so-" He stuck his tongue out, it really didn't bother him much anymore but he still brought it up as if it was the other person's fault. That was just how Hades kids worked, they had an aura like that.
Ben moved to catch up with Ian, looking at the two and feeling his hunger gnaw at him annoyingly. Tying the strings on his hoodie into a little bow, he asked them, “What have you guys been up to this year. Other than school, I mean.” He specified. Ben hated not to see his friends for long periods of time, so he felt interested in what had happened while he was away.
Alex looked up a bit more at Percy's words, looking thoughtful for a moment. "Yeah, of course. I'd love to catch up everybody, not sure why it sounds like we'd be going different paths, though," he started, tilling his head to the side. Moments later, though, he realized something and blushed a little. "Oh. You're talking about Asher, aren't you?" Yeah, he could see why they'd be going separate paths in that case.
While Percy didn't hate him, Alex could see why he'd not single Asher out or anything. "He and Nick should be arriving soon I think, yes."
--
"Yeah, kind of comes with the whole 'child of Hades' package, I guess," Nick replied with a small smile. "Better keep your words nice, or I could make a skeleton wake up you instead of Sanaa~" he hummed as he strode farther, entering the camp. It was good to be back, that was for sure. Unsurprisingly, it seemed like most people had arrived already. Really, with Asher not being too much in the mood to get up too early for the flight, they'd not come as early as they could have.
"Speaking of Hades, though," he continued, glancing into the general direction of where the cabins were. "Wonder what Oliver planned for my return."
"I mean, sparring and doing whatever to keep ourselves entertained, I guess," Joshua replied, shrugging. "Not too much to do around here, in my opinion. I'm almost jealous of you, getting to go to school and different places." It was obvious that there was no heat behind his words, as he sent Ben a warm smile. Still, it kind of sucked to be stuck inside the camp all the time. While it kept them safe, he wanted to see the world.
"I'm just glad some of the campers here leave their old books for me to read," he added, laughing a little.