"This is hopeless" Leo muttered as he fiddled with the ballista, which had been broken. Again. For like, the ninth time. But who was counting? Apparently the string and a few levers were missing from the gigantic bow. Damn. Those were the hardest parts to find, too. Leo stood up, dusting himself off. Nico was loitering on deck, everybody else was either in the mess hall or In their cabins. It was relatively early In the morning, 6 or 7 o' clock, and Leo had been rudely awakened by coach Hedge (not that the satyr was particularly polite about anything he did) and was told that the ballista was "more fucked up than my mama goat", whatever that meant. He started walking to ask Nico if he knew anything. He didn't know why but the guy seemed... Off. Like Leo would be doing something wrong if he talked to him. Maybe it had to do with his sense of humor (or lack thereof) or maybe the guy was just creepy. Besides, death and darkness had never been his type. Thing. His thing. Before Leo could decide what the hell he had meant he had gotten Nico's attention. "Heeeeyyy Nico!" "What do you want Valdez?" He asked curtly, stepping back from the railing. "Chill, man I just wanna ask you something," Leo replied with his constant troublemaker grin. Was it just his imagination, or had Nico's eyes gotten a little wider? "Whatever it is, no." "Whoah man take it easy, I just wanted to ask if you knew where I could get ballista parts." Nico looked Leo over (which wasn't difficult considering Leo was the shortest person on the ship) before finally looking at his eyes. He sighed. "What kind?" Leo grinned. Well, a little wider than normal. He knew that nobody could resist his puppy dog eyes. "Just a couple of levers and some string" Leo requested, fiddling with a couple of gears from his tool belt. "Can't you just summon those things?' Nico asked, nodding slightly towards Leo's tool belt. "Nah, too specialized for our giant crossbow here, Nessie." Leo told him, throwing a thumb over a shoulder in it's general direction. "Did you just call the ballista Nessie?" Leo got a hurt look in his eyes. "Don't let her hear you say that" Nico stared at him, then grinned. "Valdez, you are one... Interesting demigod." Leo flushed. He didn't know why, but he really liked making Nico smile. "Well I've certainly been called worse, death-boy" Nico's smile dropped. Not angrily, just casually. "I'm sure you have, shorty," He replied. "Okay I am not THAT short," Leo complained, stepping back a little because he was suddenly aware that he was pretty close to Nico. "Anyways, any idea where I can at least find some wood to make new ones?" "Nope," Nico said, going back to looking at the passing sea. The rising sun reflected of his dark hair, giving it's black color a little bit of gold. It made him look pretty good, actually. "What?" Nico asked him, turning. Leo realized he had been staring. "Uh.. Um... Nothing, sorry, just zoned out a little," he stuttered, starting to walk towards the mess hall. "Anyways I gotta go eat before Hedge gives me another chore." Nico stepped back from the rail and stretched. "I'd better go eat too," he said, walking with Leo towards the mess hall.
