Frankly, I feel as though everybody is over exaggerating about the current situation. We should focus on the whole thought of this wonderful idea of mine. Whatever happened to "it's the thought that counts"? People have lost their humanity over the years.
I was just giving our dear activities director, Chiron, a little show for his birthday. I can tell you one thing. It wasn't the outcome I was hoping, but it sure did make for an interesting. I don't know every detail, but from the looks of it, it appears that I set the fireworks off too close to the cabins. My bad. The campers should be thanking me for that amazing night filled with fireworks. There was a cake sculpture of Chiron. The cake did catch on fire. Streamers decorated all the cabins. They may have also caught on fire, but that's not a big deal. There was an awesome band consisting of Apollo kids who played throughout the night. The guitarist caught on fire with minor burns, but some of his siblings healed him. Best of all, in my opinion, is the warmth they felt through the night from the blazing cabins. Fun for the whole family.
I guess my father didn't share the same opinion I did, or my grandfather actually. Zeus wasn't exactly thrilled when he found out that his cabin was no longer standing proud and tall. So he demanded that I be punished for the destruction of the Camp. Today was the day I would find out what my harsh punishment was.
I sat on the edge of my bed in Cabin 11 fiddling with a celestial bronze dagger I had taken from one of Ares' kids. I was confined to my Cabin until I heard any news to head to the Big House. Lucky for my siblings and I, Cabin 11 only had minor damage on the side from the fires.
"If you weren't such an idiot, you wouldn't be so bored in this cabin alone." A voice came from the doorway of the cabin.
I looked towards the source of the voice and saw my cousin Avery in the doorway. Here at Camp Half-Blood, you aren't really related to people other than your siblings but this was a special exception. Avery's mom and my mother happened to both be sisters that fell for the gods. How unfortunate for them.
"Funny, Avery. No need to thank me for not ratting you out to Mr. D about who gave me the fireworks in the first place."
"I don't need to thank you because I didn't give them you. You stole it from me, as per usual. Although, I will be happy when you finally get punished for one of your disastrous ideas. Follow me. Chiron wants to see you." Avery smirked and beckoned for me to follow her as we walked through the camp.
Despite being a year younger than me, Avery was more mature than me in many ways at only 15 years old. Avery was one of the star campers who everyone relied on. Her light brown hair was always in a high ponytail down her back to her waist. She wore the orange Camp Half-Blood shirt with dark blue skinny jeans that had a belt of weaponry around her waist. Avery was one of the most skilled fighters even against the Ares cabin, it was what she had trained for. Many people had learned to back off and never cross her. I was not one of them.
As we walked to the Big House, I felt the stares of some of the campers. I looked around to see the campers surrounding me. Some had faces of annoyance from the burnt down cabins and others had faces of approval because of the destruction of most of the camp.
"Sorry that I burnt down five cabins!" I raised my hands in defense and faced the campers. "Mistakes happen you know!"
When we entered Chiron's office, a frown crept up onto my face. Also in the room was the Camp Director, Dionysus. Mr. D and I had a little history between us and we weren't on the best of terms. There was a long list of things that I had done in the past few years that had peeved off Mr. D, and each time he had threatened to turn me into a dolphin.
Chiron stood to face a painting on the wall. The painting depicted the story of Hercules retrieving one of the Golden Apples for one of his labors. I wasn't sure which one it was, but I would never really bother to learn it either.
When Avery and I arrived, Avery stepped behind me and was hanging out by the door entrance. "Chiron, I brought Harrison."
"Thank you, Avery. Can you leave us alone to talk to your cousin?" Avery quickly left the room, but I knew she was still in a place that she could hear everything that was going on.
"Harrison Reid, I was very disappointed in you yesterday." Chiron looked at me with a sad face and displeased eyes.
I just had to make the moment less awkward.
"What for? Burning down the cabins or the laxatives in the cake I passed out yesterday?" I couldn't help but grin as I remembered all those campers lined up last night for the toilets.
"Not funny, Mr. Reid. Zeus has commanded that your father give you a punishment for destroying his cabin. Hermes wanted to give you a simple punishment, but Zeus demanded it to be more tedious and demanding." Chiron stopped and sighed a bit. Mr. D was smirking at me as though he was going to be entertained. For the first time in a while, I was actually afraid of what might happen to me.
"A brother of yours went on a quest, Luke Castellan, and was asked to steal the Golden Apples from the Garden of Hesperides. You are to complete what he could not, and a small adjustment has been made to make it easier."
"What kind of adjustment?" I snapped back. I was never one to be the serious and rude type of person, but this punishment was making my blood boil. I had heard of Luke Castellan, when he went onto this quest, it had left a lasting scar on his face. I didn't want the same to happen to me.
"My gods, Chiron. You can never get to the point, can you? Harriet, you were given a list of wishes from the four Hesperides. Each requires a gift to allow you pass to the tree, of course, you will have to pass Ladon on your own. However, the Hesperides will help but not that much." Mr. D maintained a smirk the entire time as he spoke of my fate.
I stood silently the entire time, anger no longer filled me, but fear. I had never been on a quest before and only left the Camp to go visit my mom on holidays. I didn't even know where to begin or what to do.
"My name is Harrison, not Harriet. Can I ask why my father is sending me on a quest that one of his sons ended up resenting him for?"
"We can understand your worry, but we won't send you alone on this trip." Chiron finally looked back to my eyes. I was finally feeling hopeful, and I decided to go back to my normal self. I couldn't stand my serious, angry, and fearful self. "We will hold a competition tomorrow in which you will observe and you can pick who will go on this quest with you."
"Once you pick your companions, you will have two weeks to accomplish this task, if not you will be forced to..." Chiron obviously struggled to find the words to say.
"Temporarily leave camp." Mr. D said without hesitation.
"Uh, yes. Exactly."
"How long is 'temporarily'?" I couldn't go back to LA. Not with Avery's mother there to bug me about her darling daughter. My aunt was convinced that Avery was a blessing sent from the gods and that I was sent as a punishment for my mother.
"We are not sure, but I can tell you it wouldn't be less than a year."
Welcome to my SYOC! I'm super excited to write this story that I have been thinking about for a while and make it work. I will only be accepting a few main characters, but I will be using some for background characters or recurring characters in the story.
A few things before submitting a character:
1. I want unique characters that I can include into my story, but I don't want an ultra super weird character that seems too quirky. Be creative, but also be realistic.
2. Only one character per submitter. There are limited spots, so you can only have one character sent in to give a fair chance and advantage to others.
3. Please label your PM as: "PJO SYOC: {Character's Name}, {Age}, {Godly Parent}". That way I can keep track of characters by just looking at the title of the PM. If it is not labeled as such, then I will not look or maybe even delete the PM.
4. Not everyone is a child of the Big Three, but I might accept a few. However, for better chances, try to submit another godly parents. Also, no children of titans or primordial gods.
That's all I ask for when submitting a character, and the form can be found on my profile. I look forward to submissions and seeing some characters that I can incorporate into this story. I will close submissions on April 3 at midnight, so make sure to get you're characters in before then.
