The present that Kyoko gave Alto was in his pocket, a new ipod touch filled with his favorite music. He liked this one because it was solar powered (he is a tree huger).
"This is Destiny." Alto pointed at Destiny, "She is a new camper, just arrived."
"Ya. Whatever." Destiny shrugged.
"It's to bad you got claimed, we were gonna be the unclaimed threesome. Unless Destiny gets claimed..." He tailed off. He frowned, "Then I'll be alone, but it doesn't bother me too much." After that, Alto took Destiny to the Hermes cabin, "This is your home until you get claimed." He made an empty smile. Destiny would only be here for a day or two at most, he was certain. Alto was never wrong.
"Thanks..." Destiny put on a bored look, "Whens dinner?"
"Now." As Alto said now, the conch blew. They walked to the pavilion together. He waved at Lia who sat with the Aphrodite kids. She waved back. Destiny and Alto sat at the Hermes table.
...
Lia had no clue what to do after she got claimed. Be happy? Cry? Scream that she'd have to spend the rest of her life at camp with stuck up cheerleaders. Funny, she thought, I could never stand these people before, and now I have to live with them? Thanks mom.
She got dressed and moved her stuff to the Aphrodite cabin. Not that she had much, her sword, clothes, etc. But she had a few questions in mind as she moved her stuff. Why now? Why wait until the moment she could have actually had a group and fit in? Hopefully Alto and Destiny still let her hang out with them. Destiny kind of reminded Lia of herself when she first came, confused and lost. Maybe they could become good friends.
"Cookie?" The word popped Lia's thought bubble. "I'm Razmatazz, we never officially met. Cookie?"
"Umm, thanks?" Lia said, taking the chocolate chip cookie, her favorite.
"You're my new little sis! This is going to be so much fun!" Lia was dragged off to dinner. She gave a little wave to Alto, but can't do much else under the death grip of Razmatazz.
"So much for not needing to be claimed" Alto muttered as they passed.
...
Razzmatazz grinned through dinner. She had a new test subject. This one was obviously one of those girls that walks into Aphrodite cabin with a phobia of "girly cheerleaders". Puh-lease! Razzmatazz could never be a cheerleader, she couldn't deal with the pep. Frankly, there were a whole lot of non-cheerleader-type people in Aphrodite. What did people have against love and beauty anyways? Last time she checked beauty was the first thing they looked at in people. And love was what made the world go around.
She sighed, muttering "Stupid stereotypes..." Lia heard her and made one last attempt to escape Razzmatazz. That annoyed her.
"YOU SIT STILL!" She barked and turned to Jubby who was staring at her adoringly. She smacked her upside the face making him grin sheepishly.
"You're so cool Razz!" He slurred.
"You. Are. My. Brother. Jubby." She snarled, moving to a different side of the table, dragging Lia along with her.
"All is fair in love and war!" Jubby exclaimed.
"That's different!" Razzmatazz screamed. "I'm not hungry anymore. Let's go Lia." She took Lia by the arm and dragged her away. Lia was about to burst into tears. Mostly because of this overwhelming feeling creeping all over her and partly because she was hungry.
"I want to eat!" Lia cried, breaking free of Razzmatazz. Razzmatazz flung her to the ground and Lia hit the table right on the head.
"THEN EAT!" With that, she departed. All of the other kids in Aphrodite dropped their food and came to Lia's aid. One guy with blond hair and kladeiscope eyes helped Lia up, giving her a winning smile.
"Don't worry about her. She has mood swing issues. She's actually pretty cool. Really smart. Almost smart enough to be in Athena. She gets really mad when people stereotype Aphrodite cabin into girly cheerleaders." He made air quotes on girly cheerleaders. Lia's stomach sunk. She'd been thinking just that a second ago.
...
Alto sat himself next to Destiny at the table, trying to smile at her. She tried to smile back too. They both failed.
"What did Kyoko give you?" Alto asked in attempt to make conversation.
"Oh," Destiny actually seemed to brighten, "She gave me a..."
"She gave me a... never mind."
"What's a never mind?" Alto asked, in a teasing tone.
Destiny ignored him and went back to eating her salad. When she finished, she looked under the table at the unopened box.
"So," Alto said, trying to make conversation, "Are you a veterian too?"
"Yeah," Destiny mumbled, "See you later." She got out of her chair, and left to go to the beach. Taking off her combat boots, she sat down in the sand and took out the box. It rattled a little when she shook it, so finally, she couldn't resist it anymore, and she carefully opened the box. Out fell a silver ring. A simple design with a brilliant black diamond stone. Inscribed in it was the words Everyone has a past, but this is the present.
What does that mean, Destiny thought, Sure, I have a past, that I wouldn't like to tell anyone, but how does she know about that? What kinda camp is this anyway? People keep talking about fighting... Maybe I should find a weapon. Where do they have weapons? Maybe the big building made weapons...
Destiny then slid the ring down her thin, white finger, put her shoes back on, and left to find a weapon. She got to the building, walked in, and nearly tripped over a knife right in front of her. It was perfect! Including the handel, it was exactly a foot long. The knife's blade was celestrial bronze, and the handle was made of silver with a gold trim roping around the silver like a snake. Destiny picked up the knife and it fit her hand perfectly, almost as if it was made specifically for her. She took it and left the building.
...
So there was Alto, sitting alone with nobody to talk to. Yes, there were Hermes kids, but they always ignored him. Alto ate his dinner, went to Hermes Cabin, and drowned everything out with his new ipod.
He polished his crystal bronze sword. It was special though. It was infused with steel so it could kill immortals and mortals alike. It was Luke's sword, Backbiter. Alto changed out of his emo outfit into his PJ's and went to bed.
The next day he put on his camp t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. He went to the dock and looked at his reflection in the water. He was deep in thought. Alto knew what being unclaimed ment and liked it. He was different, a loser, and unimportant kid. Just how he liked it. It mey have bothered him but he was all around happy. He doesn't want to ever be claimed, ever.
He was interrupted by Lia who snuck over to sit next to him.
"Hey Alto," Lia said.
"Hey," Alto replied.
"So what are you doing?" Lia asked.
"Oh," Alto replied, "Nothing much, just thinking..."
"Oh, thats cool" Lia said.
"Hey," Destiny said. She was wearing an outfit a little different, but still gothish. She had a short skirt that was red plad, a shirt that was half tee half tank, her new ring, and her usual black combat boots.
"Whoa," Alto said, a little dumbstruct, "When did you get here?"
"What do you mean?" Destiny asked, confused, "I've been here the whole time..."
"LIAAAAAA!" Jubby chose that moment to scream to the new Aphrodite camper.
"Ugg, what the heck could they possibly want now?" Lia asks very much annoyed. Ever since she'd been pulled out of her unclaimed camper status, Razmatazz has been having Lia do ever little favor she needed. In two words, It Sucked. Absolutely sucked. "What!" Lia screams to her brother.
"Razmatazz needs you."
"For what?"
"I don't know. Something to do with cleaning out the-"
"And that's more important than what I'm doing now?"
"Of course it is. Nobody cares about the unclaimed pieces of trash."
"...unclaimed piece of..." Alto and Destiny said synchronized until they were cut off by Lia.
"Well I DO. You can go tell Razmatazz..."
"You want me to do it?" The same brother that helped Lia up earlier said. He told Lia that Razmatazz was cool, but Lia hadn't felt that way yet. But this brother, his name was Mark, was pretty awesome, and probably Lia's favorite sibling thus far.
"No, it's alright, I'll go do it. Lead the way Jubby."
Suddenly another Aphrodite sibling, a girl named Anika, took Lia by the elbow and dragged her behind Aphrodite cabin.
"Hey, Razzmatazz is bugging you huh?" Lia nodded. Anika grinned as wide as she could. "Still think we're all girly cheerleaders?" With that, Anika rolled her eyes and walked away. Halfway, she turned around and smiled at Lia, pausing.
"Don't worry. We all thought it at first, but you come to realize love and beauty don't always mean blonde hair, pink dress, and a couple hundred boyfriends. Or girlfriends!" She said a little louder, and Lia turned around to see Mark leaning against the wall behind her. They both sat down, motioning to Lia to do the same.
"You think she's ready for the talk?" Mark asked.
Anika shrugged. "I dunno. She really hasn't warmed up to us quite yet. Still thinks our cabin's hell." Mark and Anika both glanced back at the flower-scented cabin and shared a secret smile. Lia felt a headache coming on. If they kept acting this way, how was she supposed to warm up to them? And this sure wasn't how they'd acted before. Could it be that the Aphrodite all really acted like... well "girly cheerleaders" around other cabins on purpose? Maybe her face showed the shock she felt because from the corner of her eyes she saw Anika raise a perfectly trimmed eyebrow.
"You're getting parts of it now. Truth is, love and beauty isn't all that glitters. Every time there's hate around, we feel it. Every love connection, we sense. We have to go through the pain of every unrequited love. As for beauty, well it's a curse too. We feel fidgety if we're not beautiful. Being beautiful and being girly are two different things. When you fall for a guy, the first thing you look for in him are his looks whether consciously or subconsciously. Love and beauty are the basis of the world. Even babies looks at symmetrical faces longer. Another attribute of beauty is phi. This originates from greek story of Helen of Troy. Phi calculates symmetry, position of features, type of features, size, size in comparison to other features, size in comparison to face size, face shape, skeletal structure, position of cheekbones, and many other attributes. We're cursed with the all-catching eyes. We catch every fault, every flaw. It's hard for us to even look at people with too much lack of phi. That's part of why our mother could never love Haphaestus. As for love, all of us daughters and sons of Aphrodite are born solely to fix the relations between others. We're doomed to never be able to truly fall in love. Lia, I know you're still in denial about the gods. But the thing is, you have to realize it now. Soon your eyes will sharpen to deduction. You're a beautiful, sweet girl and you're our sister. Razzmatazz is cranky, sure, but she has it the worst. Please just remember, she's your sister now. We're all family. You can chose your friends but not your family sweetie, don't worry about the statistics. People in this camp will piss you off. They all hate the Aphrodite cabiners but we have some advantages they don't. Life can be sweet if you keep up the act. As a very wise man once said Just be pretty but naïve/Anything you hear is what you believe/Let the rhyme get stuck in your head/Wish you had undressed me in your..."
"That's an Anarbor song..." Lia smiled, this was the first time she felt home. She had sisters and brothers and... a mother. She'd always wanted a mother. Now that she dwelled on it, she couldn't have chosen a better cabin. None of the others would ever fit her quite as right. She'd always appreciated a beautiful scenery, and in honesty to herself, a beautiful face. And love. Stories, plays, movies of first love, unrequited love. She couldn't believe people disliked the Aphrodite cabin. It was a world of intricate beauty. A cruel beauty with a dark lining at some times, but still absolutely lovely. She closed her eyes and laid down on the ground. When she opened her eyes to look up at the stars, the world suddenly looked different. She gasped.
"Yep, you got it! The eyes!" Mark and Anika high-fived, joining Lia on the ground to look up at the stars. They stayed that way for a while. Soon they heard a rustling of leaves and Lia turned to see Razzmatazz standing behind them. Lia sprang up, ready to duck and cover at the first sound of outburst, but to her surprise Razzmatazz smiled. It was a gentle smile, her eyes slightly soft. Lia didn't know what got into her. She stood up and hugged her sister as tightly as she could.
"Welcome to Aphrodite cabin, Lia!" Razzmatazz exclaimed.
"Welcome daughter." ...
Dun Dun Dun. Lol this was written after The Lost Hero. I never liked Piper...
