From the perspective of Will Solace - A boy of sunshine
"I'm so bad at poetry, sometimes I can't believe I'm an Apollo kid." Kayla remarked, reading over the paper in her hands.
"Aww, don't be such a downer. You're by far the best musician here! I bet your poetry isn't even that bad." He tried, hoping to cheer her up. She smiled to him and offered a laugh as he sent her cabin 7's best puppy dog eyes.
"Thanks, Will. Here, you wanna read it?" She offered him the paper, in which he gladly took to read over.
Perhaps the gods aren't as they seem
Maybe they're like us, just all to keen
I'll admit, my dad never was around
I waited, and waited, and pounded the ground
Still never met him, maybe one day
But he's so unpredictable no one can say
It wasn't bad at all! In fact, it was a major improvement from the last time he had read Kayla's poems. Without even finishing, his motherly pride overtook itself.
"See, I knew you could do it!" The blonde boy's hands shot up in the air, unexpectedly hitting something to their left. Michael's eyes widened as the counsellor started to rise from his seat. He turned to what he had hit just in time to see a thin, yellow skinned kid in an arm sling stumble right into the back of a very grumpy Ares counsellor.
"Will!" Michael scolded. The entire table was now watching the scene play out. This kid seemed like a newbie, around his age, if not younger. Before he could apologize, Clarisse got to them (he had heard Connor and Travis using 'they' as a pronoun, so that's what he chose to use as well).
"Watch it, Newbie. You're gonna learn who's turf you're on, I'll make sure of that." He groaned in the back of his throat at her. Clarisse always tried to scare off new campers, and usually succeeded.
"Oh my gods, I'm so sorry." As the camp's most positive boy, he placed a hand on their shoulder, only then realizing the mysterious new kid's appearance. In the black tank top, they had bloodied bandages wrapped around their torso, presumably to cover up injuries on their shoulder blades. Their arm was in a sling, with bandages wrapped around the left antebrachium as well. The quick look he stole from their face was startling; patched splotches of colour mapped their tired face in a stippled look. In normal language, a fuckton of bruises. "Sorry Clarisse, that's on me." He made sure to gently remove his hand from their bandaged shoulder, which seemed to relieve some of their tension. They tried to walk away with a small nod, but were interrupted by Clarisse shoving the injured shoulder roughly forward. This time, his ears picked up the hiss of pain and immediately jumped to verbally defend them.
"Clarisse, stop! Hey, what's up with your injuries? I haven't seen you in the infirmary, and this must be your first day." He was the one usually working the infirmary in recent times, since Michael had basically all of Friday's shift for Capture the Flag. His confusion was why they wouldn't have come to get their arm checked out, or at the very least for someone to help with bandaging their shoulders. This seemed to get Clarisse's attention too, since she paused for the thin newbie to respond.
"Minotaur. And the foster..." their voice trailed off. I pondered what they meant, but Clarisse's questioning made it painstakingly clear exactly what had happened.
"And the what?"
"Foster family." He felt the urge to retch at that. Every demi in this camp had family issues, most had no parental figures around, but the thought of an alleged family hurting this poor kid... he was worried. He was worried because it meant that they had been through hell for who knows how long, they had no familial presence in their life, and for the fact that he didn't know which injuries were from the minotaur or the foster family. Looking closer, their bony stature was coloured with scars and bruises entirely. Gods, he doubted a minotaur would spend enough time to leave bruises rather than behead a half-blood. Does that... that means that a great majority of these injuries were from the foster family.
"Who got to kill the minotaur? Little Prissy over there, or did you just run and hope someone else would deal with it?" Clarisse's usual competitive and battle hungry tone was apparent. After casually making fun of the Son of Poseidon, her natural jealousy set in and spread to her table. He would have rolled his eyes at her if not for the amount of concern aimed at the new kid.
"Me..." He was definitely surprised by that. The only person he had heard to kill a monster on their first day was Percy, and he ended up being a kid of the Big 3. However, he hadn't been at camp as long as most of the counsellors and senior campers. He could also assume this kid was unclaimed, since they were heading to the Hermes cabin table and didn't carry that glint of mischief in their eyes that most of the Hermes kids had. The concern only grew as their fear became more visible. Most people got scared around Clarisse, but this seemed different. They must have only noticed both tables staring now, as they proceeded to return their gaze to the ground.
"If you guys are so interested in the new kid, you'll be thrilled to meet a late complaint from Hestia." Chris, a Hermes kid and boyfriend of the one and only Clarisse, came to their rescue. Under different circumstances, he would have avoided putting them in this situation again, but health came first. At least the Ares kids had backed down. He was partially surprised by Chris, as he didn't seem like the type to stick up for the underdog, especially against his girlfriend, but he realized that there was probably an interaction between them in the cabin. Still, he couldn't let them just walk away with obvious injuries without making an effort to help them.
Careful not to touch, since they seemed skittish, he called out "Hey- sorry, didn't mean to startle you. Sorry again for hitting you, I should be more aware of my surroundings." Their flinch at a simple 'hey' was concerning. As one of the more powerful healers at camp, he had pretty good medical knowledge, but mental health was completely different and trumped practically all of the campers' health issues alone.
"Why haven't you come to the infirmary? Those bandages on your shoulders look like a nightmare to have put on by yourself, although pretty good for having no medical knowledge." Yan, my half-brother, stated, the accent coming through slightly, while the rest of Cabin 7 shared their concerns.
"I... no. I'll handle it myself. Sorry for interrupting your breakfast." The entire table was surprised, now. Gracie was the first to speak once Chris had led the new kid to the Hermes table.
"Did- did they just apologize to us after Will was the one that hit him?" The table nodded slowly. Michael sighed, concerned.
"That arm looked painful." The table nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, and did you see the bandages on the torso? That would be so uncomfortable." Yan added.
"Gods, I feel so bad. I'm gonna ask Chiron if he'll let me check them out in the infirmary." I said. The table was relieved at that, and returned to eating. Austin had finished eating already, and was leaning in to the table.
"Who do you think their godly parent is?" Despite the Apollo cabin being one of the less extreme in social stereotypes or gimmicks, this got the table to start gossiping.
Michael thought for a moment, "Definitely not Ares. Too timid for that."
"Could just be first day anxiety," Kayla pointed out.
"Yeah, but would an Ares kid be nervous to say that they killed a minotaur?" he asked. The table shook their heads.
"Percy killed a minotaur on his first day. They don't seem like the water type though," Michael wondered out loud.
"Athena, maybe?"
"What about that interaction gave you smart ass vibes?" Austin asked, bewildered. Usually Michael or himself would try to discourage stereotyping other campers, but usually the stereotypes were spot on. Athena kids naturally were learners and leaders, having the power of the mind as their greatest weapon. Apollo kids had a few gimmicks like archery, healing, the Sun, prophecies, music, poetry, and art. Children of Ares were aggressive, battle hungry, and constantly jumping into any conflict they could start. Demeter's cabin was softer and cared deeply about all things nature. Aphrodite's children were all about lovey dovey stuff, and looks. Hephaestus kids were all steam punky mechanics and all. Hermes kids were tricksters and quick, with unclaimed demi kids usually just looking sad or innocent.
"They seem smart. They did all those bandages and the sling, I'm guessing."
"I guess."
As the table continued to gossip, he decided to go and find Chiron at the door. As he approached, Chiron greeted him with a tip of the chin.
"Good morning, WIll. What can I help you with?" His own cheerful voice wasn't there as it usually was, just energized with determination to help his new friend.
"Hey Chiron. I was gonna ask you if I could take the new kid to the infirmary. They look like they're in pain, and I wanna help." Chiron's face fell slightly into a frown.
"Of course, Will. Thank you for telling me. Seth has had a difficult upbringing. They wouldn't let me touch them to heal them, and said they would do it themselves. I'll clear both your schedules for you to treat them as long as you need today." He nodded his thanks before turning to sit back down.
"Will?" He turned to Percy. The son of Poseidon was sitting alone at his table as usual, but had been eavesdropping. "Thanks for looking out for Seth. They can be... nervous to touch. Just try to be careful with them." He nodded and returned to wait with his half-siblings until breakfast ended.
On the way to the Apollo cabin's infirmary, Chiron stopped him with a light grip on his shoulder, "Will, I don't know how much has already been passed around by gossip, but Seth has very strong powers." His eyes widened. A demi using their powers before even entering Camp Half-Blood wasn't impossible, but uncommon, and usually the powers were extremely watered down or took an enormous amount of energy.
"Oh? What kind of powers?" Chiron hesitated.
"I'm not quite sure, but they seem to be linked with Seth's emotional state and stress levels, so try to keep them as calm as you can. If you don't mind meeting me at the front of the big house when you're done, I'd like to know the extent of their injuries." It seemed the Apollo cabin shared its concern for the mysterious newcomer with both Percy and Chiron.
"Okay. Thanks, Chiron!" He rushed through the doors with renewed determination. The newbie—Seth—was standing just inside the doors. He offered a smile to them, hoping it may lighten the mood a bit. "Hey Seth! Glad to see you again. Sorry again for this morning. I was just so proud of Kayla's poetry practice. Did you know she thought she was bad with words? I couldn't believe it." He continued on rambling; anything to try and take away their stress or fear while he set up the medical kit. He had hoped that my meaningless rambling would calm their nerves a bit, but it seemed to have no affect.
"Could I take a look at your arm?" His voice was as gentle as it could be, yet they flinched away and cowered as if struck. He felt his chest ached as the sheer fear on their face slashed a hole through his heart.
"Sorry. I'm just- not used to this." The thought that they were scared wasn't what made his heart pang, the fact that 'this' was physical contact is what made me hurt. I need a different approach, he decided. He decided to sit next to them on the stiff cot.
"That's okay. I'm guessing you've had it pretty rough?" He tried his best not to pry at their life story, despite wanting to know so badly. As they stared into the air, he watched their nod with empathy. "What would you do when... they hurt you really bad?" Part of him asked for his own sake, to hope that they had gone to a hospital, or at least someone who knew first aid. Part of him knew that wasn't the answer.
"Deal with it. Make sure no one else knew who did it. Try not to do anything stupid before it got more bearable." His lips turned to a frown. He was upset, mad, and everything in that spectrum of emotion. This poor kid just seemed so abused, and he guessed correctly that they were. They didn't have a safe place, or anyone they could trust and talk to. I wanted to change that. Gods, all he wanted in that moment was to give them a big hug and tell them that it would be okay for an eternity, but he couldn't. A war was going to happen, and they would hopefully get claimed. They just learned they were a demigod, which opened up a whole new can of worms.
He mentally shook my head to return to a medical mindset, "You've done a pretty good job with the bandages it looks like, but that can't be comfortable right now." He looked to their arm, resting in the sling against their torso. He had his guesses as to what the exact injury was, but needed to confirm. "You gonna tell me how serious that arm injury is?" Their face seemed blank now, instead of the scared and hurt look from the beginning of this conversation.
"Broken bone. It cut through the skin. I set it back last night." At first, he was only sad that his guess had been right, but then mortified at how much the last sentence said without words.
"Y-you mean that you set your own broken arm? With no anesthesia?" When Chiron said that Seth was strong, he only thought of their powers. He hadn't considered their mental strength. Endurance was a skill only trained through repetition, and Seth seemed to have mastered the skill. His heart cracked for the nth time that day, when they only looked confused at the mention of anesthesia. Did they not know that there were ways to take away the pain? Had they never been subject to the slightest bit of mercy? "Holy Hades..."
Their eyes slid shut gradually, but he hovered his hand behind them incase they fell. He was concerned that there was a problem that slipped under the radar, but then noticed the heavy bags under their eyes. "Hey, it's okay, just lay down. It's okay, you're doing great." The look of awe and disbelief at such a simple and common reassurance pierced his battered heart again. Gods, the amount of humanity Seth lacked experience with was horrifying. He knew that the gods weren't all that great, after all, he'd never met his father, but for them to allow all this to happen to a kid... he didn't think the gods could stoop so low.
In their dazed state, he needed to test if they would be honest. A lot of his half-siblings in the Apollo cabin tried to hide their insomnia from having nightmares and dreams. "You okay? Unless there's something I don't know about, you shouldn't be passing out from blood loss. It could be... from pain." Although he realized that passing out from pain was a possibility, he deemed it unlikely since they had set their own arm and mentioned nothing of passing out from the pain.
"No. I... didn't sleep well." The fact that they were honest was a good sign. Hopefully. It meant that they either trusted him enough to tell him, or that they were too desperate or afraid to lie.
"How much sleep did you get?" After physical exertion like fighting a minotaur and using their powers, he would have thought that they would be exhausted. When they didn't respond, he grew scared. Admitting to sleeping patterns seemed to be a weakness of theirs. "Seth?"
"Maybe 40 minutes." The blonde's eyes widened, and the concern was shining in his eyes clear to see. He felt grogy with 6 hours of sleep... how had this kid even gotten out of bed after only 40 minutes of sleep? In his swirl of worries for what now seemed like a small child, he didn't expect what came next. "I'm sorry." Gods, I swear on the River Styx I will beat anyone who tries to hurt Seth when I'm around. They were sorry because they thought he was upset because of them.
"It's okay. Here, I'm going to rewrap your shoulders, and give you a cast for your arm. Then, you can get plenty of sleep in here for as long as you need." While getting out the needed medical supplies, he carefully thought out his exact actions. He didn't want to do anything remotely similar to the bastards that ever hurt Seth, so he decided to be as gentle and light as possible. No sudden movements, just so they could see what was happening, and always asked before doing something unexpected. Surprisingly, they obliged when asked for them to remove their shirt. I was as gay as they came, but I had a feeling they didn't know that.
After pouring some ambrosia on the wounds and some ointment to numb their pain, he began wrapping their injuries with bandages. The shoulder wounds didn't seem as bad as he would have thought, but the arm... it just looked so painful. The area with the puncture was discoloured and sensitive. With some careful inspection, he surprisingly concluded that Seth had set their arm perfectly. It should heal with some rest and support, so he brought out a cast. After looking between the bright green cast and the greyish white one, he decided against making a fashion statement for Seth.
The cast was the last part he could do, but not before noticing the crusting scab on the side of Seth's head. It was hidden by their dark hair, but the shine of light was clearly on dried blood. He chose to ignore it, as Seth already was nervous and looked so defeated. While his doctor instincts screamed against his silence, part of himself knew that pressuring Seth to allow help with a head injury would be pushing their limits. A light line drew his attention as his gaze followed it from right above their eye, to their chin. It curved in sickly jagged ways from their waterline and down their cheek to cross over both lips. On the other cheek was a burst of darker and lighter tissue that rested right over their cheek bone.
"You have a lot of scars." He thought. Wait, they just turned away from me. I didn't think that. "Gods, did I just say that out loud?" Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. What the Hades did I just do? Why would any part of my brain think that was a good idea?
"Yeah. I do." The defensive tone hurt, but he sure as Hades deserved it. Gods, he was here complaining that their tone hurt, but he literally just pointed out the lasting evidence of their lifetime of trauma. I have to fix this. Turning their head, he took a wild risk to fix the idiotic mistake. This time, I let my heart lead instead of my head.
Luckily, it worked. Hopefully? They were able to open up about each scar's story, either out of fear, or out of trust. I was hoping the latter. He decided that this must be too much mental energy for one day, and allowed them to have their quiet time.
"Get some sleep. I'll wake you for dinner if you aren't awake by then." As he left, part of the natural supporter in his mind screamed to stay. To stay, and make sure that nothing harmed them again, but the other half knew that Seth was too afraid to say if they wanted to be alone. He hoped that they would grow to trust him, or at the very least to let him try and help. All half-bloods were in need of just someone who they could talk to and trust to hold them in difficult times. Those that were lucky had that outside of camp, or as a part of their family, but most had no real family to turn to. I was lucky enough that my mom had my back, even if she didn't understand. Seth never had anyone. I planned on changing that.