Where We Love is Home
After the war, demigods from across the world were brought into Camp Half-Blood. What they didn't account for was the rivalries among those nations of the world that, when together, cause wars of the worst kinds. When Justin agreed to this, he didn't agree to room with an Englishman.
"What is food to one, is to others bitter poison" (Lucretius)
Chapter Two: Cast Away the Bitter Poison
"Bâtard anglais," Justin snarled, barely able to say the words before the English boy lunged at him. Whoever had failed to restrain him before now threw themselves at his limbs in success. Justin was only concerned about the two strong arms wrapped around his torso that almost lifted him off his feet. He kicked and screamed until his English faded into French, but Richard wouldn't release him and instead dragged him away from the entire cabin and into the woods. There, he held him until Justin hadn't the energy to continue his tirade.
"There, feel better? You got it all out? Geez, what's wrong with you? I thought you were a…a quiet guy," Richard said, finally stepping away. Justin rubbed his arms where he was sure bruises would form and shrugged, unsure of the answer himself. The desire to confront that English boy had left, but Justin didn't regret what he did or said. He wasn't completely sure as to why he reacted so violently in the first place. He could have blamed it on the shock of his arrival, but it wasn't a very good excuse.
"I was simply…infuriated, at that moment. Must I stay with him in the duration of my time here? I do not believe that it would be good for either of us," Justin said once his breathing returned to normal. Satisfied, Richard motioned him in another direction, away from the cabins and deeper into the dark forest with its shifting shadows and whispering trees. Faintly, he heard the commotion of what could only be dinner in the distance. The warm glow of fires rested beyond the trees and he was reminded of the last time he ate anything. The mere thought of American food made him shiver.
"I can't tell until later, but you'll see that yeah, you have to stay with him. There will be others, of course, but you'll just have to deal with it. So why do you two hate each other so much anyways? You've met before?" As Richard rambled, Justin almost walked into a tree he was so shocked by the boy's words. Apparently, he had never heard about the rivalry between the French and the English and their hatred for one another. Justin did admit that most French citizens didn't hate the English as much as they used to, but that dislike hadn't gone away completely.
Justin decided that it wasn't worth the breath to explain the conflict to Richard, who had already moved on by this time. The avoidance of the obvious question that Justin had proposed made him suspicious. Richard had said the same before, but he supposed that he wouldn't have to wait any longer with the pavilion entering his view. Reminiscent of ancient Greek architecture, the entire camp was gathered to feast and almost everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. The scents of a strange array of foods entered his nose, none of which were pleasing.
Famished as he was, Justin didn't find it worth consuming the food they had to offer. The short rest he took didn't expel the nerves that he'd buried in the back of his mind and spat upon. Those nerves made him nauseous and rather irritated. Richard provided little explanation and deposited the foreigner at a table where he told him not to move from before he headed off to his own. Feeling rather dejected at being left as someone else's responsibility, Justin refused to speak more than a few muttered French words at the others at the table, even to the two boys who found it amusing to pour soda over his head.
While he sipped at some water and attempted to wipe the sticky liquid from his hair, the two boys who'd earned Justin's glare gaped at him again. Justin wanted to fire a nasty phrase or two their way, something along the lines of 'casse-toi', but the strange creature that was apparently a centaur rose to speak before he could. He started on about something that sounded like a tribal ritual before the table towards Justin's right burst into cheers. They were staring at him, which he attributed to the coca-cola in his light brown hair. Justin flushed in embarrassment.
Around the same time he shouted, "casse-toi", Richard slapped him across his shoulder blades and said in an unnecessarily loud voice, "congratulations"! Justin flung his torso forward to avoid the hand, sputtered inelegantly, and twisted around with an apparently hilarious expression. At the moment, he wasn't amused and he felt rather humiliated since those twins had started laughing as well. Only after he inwardly cursed the entire pavilion did he stop to ponder what Richard had said. If this was the thing that Richard had refused to tell him, he really didn't like it.
"W-well, aren't you going to move?" Richard said while he was choking on his laughter. Justin frowned and stood up sharply, sure that he was more flustered than he had been when his brother Prosper inquired as to whether or not he'd had sexual intercourse. Sometimes, he just didn't understand Prosper and was outright disgusted by his actions and words, and at the same time adored him. He was waiting for the same to happen with Richard. Maybe the American had some redeeming qualities, he hoped.
"Move where, may I ask," Justin almost spat, biting his tongue from spouting something that he'd regret. His parents taught him better; he thought that he had learnt better than to succumb to mere insults and petty arguments. A beverage in his hair and the presence of laughter and cheering shouldn't change that, even if Richard should have thought first before being so friendly with him. They had known each other for not even a day. His actions were hardly proper.
"To the Athena table of course; you are a son of Athena, you know. This Hermes table is just a temporary thing. No one told you that?" Richard said without any guilt on his part. The other boy made a sudden grab for his shoulders and twirled him around to face the table that made that ruckus before. He marched Justin over towards an empty space and pushed him onto his seat with a wide grin on his face the entire time. "I would say 'welcome', but this isn't my table."
"You never told me anything," Justin argued despite the fact that the other boy had probably forgotten all about his comment already. The 'Athena' thing was a bit of a shock, though he didn't know what else he was expecting. The whole idea with the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology actually being real hadn't exactly reached the rational part of his brain yet. Therefore, he made no comment that would render him a fool. His father wouldn't have sent him to some mad camp for nothing. "I have to sit…here from now on?"
"Yep, you're an Athena camper now that our mother claimed you. I'm Annabeth, welcome," said an older girl with one of those tacky shirts and blonde hair. Justin recognized her from earlier that day, at the base of the big hill after he'd gotten chased by god knows what. That raised another issue. Justin was still a Christian at heart. It didn't feel right forsaking the religion he'd grown up with and still believed. "You'll feel right at home in no time. We'll bring you to our cabin later."
"You are my…sister now? I'm Justin Lévesque, it's a pleasure," Justin mumbled as the girl left for her food. The new conflict in his head cut off all other coherent thoughts. This new 'family' and religion just didn't suit him. He didn't want to switch between these very different worlds for only two months. And his siblings were Prosper, Gilbert, Jeanne and Irene. Their relationships were rocky sometimes, but he loved them. He knew them and they didn't care that he had a different mother. He didn't know this girl at all. "How are you sure?"
"Didn't you see the sign above your head at all?" Richard said in that loud voice of his that irritated Justin. He shook his head even though he would rather have said something profane. There was nothing on his head except for soda, which was still there and sticker than ever. Unless that had been the sign, Justin really didn't understand these Americans at all. "Well, it was there. And you're an Athena kid because of it. Well, I'm a son of Dionysus, though you could probably tell by the cabin…and don't give me that, I don't drink." Richard spared a glare for another 'sibling' of Justin's.
"I suppose that makes sense. I enjoyed it in there. If it would not bother you too much, may I visit sometime?" Justin asked in a hesitant manner. He'd been nothing but snappy towards Richard, yet he still selfishly hoped for some semblance of his other life in France. If only for a brief moment he could pretend that he was there, in the vineyards as a child again. Justin favored complex things in life, but he wasn't fond of the new heritage trust upon him. What flowed through his veins didn't matter if he couldn't even accept the other Athena campers as friends.
"Huh, you want to go back? Why, I'd be honored to have an Athena camper stop by! The rest of your siblings seem to think that we're all a bunch of drunks like our father, no offense there, and party instead of doing constructive things." Richard huffed as he glared at the people around him and offered Justin a wide grin that was becoming contagious. It took all his willpower to prevent himself from following suit. Even at that he allowed a small smile to slip. It seemed to delight Richard, for some reason.
"Thank you. I will not take advantage of your hospitality," Justin said. He felt obliged to include the last part, just in case Richard had any concerned about it. The American boy just nodded and patted him rather harshly on his back. With another grin, he pushed a plate of pasta towards Justin and forced him to eat it in whatever time there was left of dinner. And although there might have been an ulterior motive, he poured a glass of water over his head to wash off the soda before the insects got to him.
The days following his first steps into camp were hectic and confusing. Justin struggled through most of the activities with Richard chattering by his side. They soon fell into a comfortable peace with each other that Justin couldn't find with any of his so called 'siblings'. After he'd learnt to take most of what Richard said with a grain of salt, he found himself loosening up to the American. He shared some of his insecurities with him and learnt that Richard was homesick, too. Due to the monster population, he'd been forced to move away from California on the other side of the United States and he missed home as well.
The horrible aspect of his new living arrangements was the fact that the English boy Seth Mitchell was one of his supposed 'siblings'. He might have been the reason why Justin refused to call them family. There was no way that he was related to such an insufferable guy. Seth was a fifteen year old from Liverpool, England, which he assured the other campers in exasperation, was nowhere near London. Various times he'd been asked similar questions and answered that no, he was not from Paris. In that sense he could sympathize with the Englishman, but that was where their similarities stopped.
Whenever Richard could, he snuck away from his cabin and greeted Justin at the strangest times, like when he was busy trying to figure out how to hold a bow and arrow or ride a Pegasus without getting bitten. Exactly a week passed with few other events happening. The monsters that showed themselves were apparently nothing out of the ordinary and no new campers came trudging down the large hill. From Richard Justin learnt more about the camp and its recent history, which he still remained skeptical about, not that he would admit it aloud.
The humidity today made Justin more irritated than usual. He hadn't any idea that New York was so horrible with its weather. At times like this, he wished that the cabins had air conditioning. Justin admitted that he was a little spoiled; he liked his comforts and pleasures in life. Richard could hardly make him move the entire day, but had to leave around five o' clock to clean his cabin. Unlike Justin, Richard kept a rather messy living space that he found repulsing when he'd spent time in the Dionysus cabin.
The bustle in his own cabin was distracting, so he couldn't read if he could sit still long enough to flip a single page. Somewhere along the line that day, Richard had slapped a fold up fan that he'd gotten from an Aphrodite girl into his hand and told him to, 'shut up and cool off' when his whining had gotten to an all time high. Justin chose an out of the way place to sit with the blue paper fan and closed his eyes as he leaned against the wooden building behind him. He wanted to go home.
Ever since the night of his arrival his Athena 'siblings' never stopped telling him about their 'mother', as if he hadn't read a single Greek classic in his lifetime. They spoke highly of the goddess, almost on the borderline of ignoring the horrible things she had done in the past. The campers glorified Athena until Justin made a reluctant and short lived truce with Seth to escape their incessant speeches. The morning after, the French and English boys were back to spitting at each other from afar. That was one thing that wouldn't change, Justin thought, no matter how much that older girl wanted peace.
Justin couldn't actually call the camp a complete waste of time and effort no matter how much he wanted to. The activities, once he wrapped his mind around their purposes, were rather fun and challenging. Richard was always there to keep him company and force laughter from his otherwise serious demeanor, either ignorant or uncaring of Justin's tendency to be rude towards others. Still, Justin couldn't call the American his friend so soon. There were obligations that came with being friends and he wasn't ready for that. So acquaintances would have to do for the moment.
The sun beyond the horizon was waning, its midday heat dissipated as evening approached. Justin folded up the fan and stored it away in his pocket as he drew his legs to his chest. Behind him, he heard the commotion from the volleyball game and gauged just how much time he had before the other Athena campers came to collect him for dinner. They had the strangest sense for those types of things. Seth seemed to be the only one who could escape their grasps for more than an hour.
There was a rather obnoxious commotion in the distance over the large hill. Justin took it as simply a monster on a rampage and paid little attention to it until the roars were audible and too close to the camp. The sounds somehow alerted the volleyball players during their shouting matches and soon enough there was a small crowd gathered at the base of the hill. They seemed more expectant than anxious, but Justin didn't see how they could remain so unalarmed. A few Ares campers broke away from the group just as some speck came over the horizon.
Justin squinted against the sunset and absently noticed Richard's approach from behind. For the first time, he didn't shrug off the taller boy's hands when they rested on his shoulders. When he grew familiar with people, Justin could become rather touchy, but Richard unnerved him because he'd been around for such a short amount of time. Another of those strange goat creatures sprinted past the tree and Justin grew terse automatically. He felt the grip on his thin shoulders tighten. He still didn't like those things, no matter how many times his 'siblings' and Richard tried to convince him otherwise.
Behind the goat creature was another boy around Justin's age. As they approached down the hill, he could make out the ruffled appearance of the newcomer, most definitely a demigod. He was able to breathe again when the sounds in the forest beyond stopped and found that he was surprised that he'd been holding his breath in the first place. Around him, the campers welcomed the new demigod and Richard's hands slipped off his shoulders. Justin glanced backwards, only to find that he'd disappeared and became one of the spectators crowded around the new boy.
Justin inched forward and after he muttered, 'pardon me' a few times he made it towards the center just in time to hear a colorful array of expletives in German. The others seemed confused about the language, but Justin recognized it easily. Germany was France's neighbor, after all, and it was hard to mistaken their rough words for anything else. This boy did speak somewhat differently from the Germans that Justin had spoken with on the very rare occasion that he met them. As the boy gradually lapsed into normal speech, Justin mentally smacked himself on his head.
"He speaks Swiss German," Justin muttered to no one in particular, not that they would have understood him since he spoke in French. The Swiss boy shrugged off the satyr rather violently and before Justin could register it, walked up to him in some haughty manner, ignoring all the others. Blinking in confusion, he greeted the boy with the small amount of German that he had learnt a few years back. "Can I help you?"
"You too are from mainland Europe, are you not? A Frenchman," the boy said. Justin found himself only able to nod in response as he met the even eyes of the other. He had a slight accent in his English, so Justin supposed that he had learnt the language from school. In all possibility, he probably knew either French or Italian as well, considering the fact that Switzerland's three official languages were German, French and Italian. "So then we are comrades here, in this land of freedom and liberty. We are proud of our countries, are we not? We are proud of our countries and their rich histories."
"Yes, I'm glad that I live in France…" Justin said slowly, his mind working to figure out the other context behind the boy's words. Many people Justin knew spoke in slightly ambiguous ways. America was a little more simple than that, he'd found, at least in this camp. He was glad to finally have someone (who wasn't English) to hold an intelligent conversation with, someone that knew him better than these campers. When he'd begun to understand just what the boy was implying, Justin smiled and nodded. "My name is Justin Lévesque, from the Rennes region in France."
"I am Julian Gwerder and I hail from Zurich in Switzerland. It is a pleasure to meet you, Lévesque," Julian said, offering Justin his hand. Without really knowing what he was doing getting into such strange business with a Swiss, Justin accepted the handshake and departed just as the hour struck six. With a bit of pity for Julian, whose body was probably thinking the time to be eleven at night by now, Justin rejoined Richard for another strange night at dinner. With the American boy around, Justin somehow always found a reason to smile.
Notes/References:
• There is a crapload of curse words in here that I'm not going to translate. Also has the potential to be offensive, again, which will probably remain the norm for the story.
• I don't own the quotes, Percy Jackson etc.
• The Swiss use surnames until they get to know people, for the most part, so get used to Justin being called Lévesque. Swiss German is a dialect of German in Switzerland and is different from the German spoken in Germany.
• I didn't really know what sign to put for an Athena camper, so Justin never figures it out either. He hasn't exactly figured out how to 'order' food from the table either, since no one bothered to tell him.
• The humidity in the New York area is a killer when it gets bad, so that's true.