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The Court of Orthrys
She was beginning to regret her flight when the daughter of Gaia found her.
To be honest, Alanna never planned very well. This would probably be a side effect of being a demigod, since most of the half-bloods Alanna knew were very bad at planning (Athena kids excluded, as they were just annoying enough to have a mother who specialized in strategy). Her "plan" had consisted of grabbing the small handful of drachmas she'd saved, packing her backpack with a change of clothes, and crossing the borders in the early morning, after the harpies had gone and before the camp woke.
Three days later, she was out of money, both drachmas and dollar bills, and wandering the streets of Chicago, feeling completely lost.
Alanna was highly aware of how embarrassing she must have looked – her long red hair was tangled and unkempt, the oversized silver Artemis Hunting Tour T-shirt she'd purchased from the camp store for the sole reason of pissing off her siblings was torn across one shoulder and her lower back, and her jeans weren't in much better condition. Not to mention the sword she was carrying unashamedly in the open – she would much rather deal with the mortals' confused attempts at seeing through the Mist than an encounter with a monster with no weapon, but it didn't exactly do wonders for her self-esteem. Sometimes it seemed that was the only thing she had in common with most of her siblings – all of them tended to worry about their appearances.
The girl continued on, grumbling something about stupid siblings and stupid Hunters under her breath. A casual observer might have thought she didn't care about the strange looks she was getting, but her ears were redder than her hair (although, to be fair, it was more coppery to begin with), and her stride was far faster than normal. On the bright side, it was quickly darkening, so maybe people wouldn't notice (hah. As if, noted the cynical part of her mind. Alanna quickly told it to shut up).
Out of the corner of her eye, Alanna saw a flash of movement, something large and dark. Normally she wouldn't have cared, but the only thing that would be that big was either a very crabby polar bear or a monster. Alanna was fairly sure polar bears didn't come in black, and a monster attack was definitely not necessary at the moment.
The redhead whirled in alarm, sword raised, for once able to ignore the part of her mind that obsessed about looking like a lunatic. The dark blur had slowed, standing about ten feet in front of her. It was definitely a hellhound, as large as a truck, and its tail was wagging so enthusiastically Alanna could swear she felt the tremors through the streets.
What was of greater interest was the girl perched on its broad shoulders, studying Alanna with leaf-green eyes. Apparently she didn't care about her appearance, if the straggly, dirty-blonde hair and obviously worn clothes were anything to judge by. Naturally, Alanna was stuck wondering why in the name of Hades a little kid was riding a hellhound. She didn't even look like a daughter of Hades, and those were the only half-bloods she could think of that might be able to get all snuggly with a monster (and only certain ones).
The kid was the one who broke the silence first. Leaning her chin on one fist, she tilted her head slightly to one side. "Hello, Alanna Renard," she greeted the daughter of Aphrodite.
Alanna, doing her best to ignore the hellhound's multiple sets of jaws, was unsure how exactly to respond to the kid, who couldn't have been more than nine. She managed to scrape together a (lame), "Umm… who're you?"
The girl blinked slowly, which was really starting to get on Alanna's nerves. "My name is Cynthia Thyme. I would like to ask you if you would care to aid in the revolution against the Olympians."
For some reason, Alanna instinctively expected an ominous crash of lightning or something along those lines when the girl – Cynthia – mentioned "revolution" and "Olympians" in the same sentence. When nothing happened, Alanna proceeded to blink like a retarded owl. "That's possible?"
"Oh yes," Cynthia assured her, absentmindedly kneading her small fingers in the hellhound's shaggy fur. "Our forces are growing, and while it may take years, it will almost certainly occur within our lifetime. As it stands, I'm sure you would appreciate the chance to exact revenge upon the gods and their children, who cast you out based solely on your parentage. And even if you do not accept, you are quite welcome to come and recover your strength among us. We do not discriminate by birth, Miss Renard."
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Alanna wondered vaguely where a kid learned to speak so formally (not to mention her name). The part that wasn't busy being distracted seized upon the offer. "I'm coming."
"Good." Without any visible or audible prompting, the hellhound knelt, allowing Alanna to clamber up its leg, which was harder than it sounded with her sword still clutched in one hand. Cynthia helped her up the rest of the way before whistling once, shrilly. With a joyful bark, the hellhound leapt forward, large paws thudding only once on the Chicago sidewalk before a wall of black leapt up to swallow them whole.
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A/N: Okay, fine, a better title for this would be "The Butterfly Effect and a Multitude of Random OCs", but that's not as catchy. Oh, and I feel obligated to mention that in my universe hellhounds have two mouths and a third eye in the middle of their foreheads. I'm not entirely sure why.
Oh, and if any of you care what Cynthia looks like six years from this chapter (most of this fic will take place then), see sinceritydawn(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/The-Children-of-Gaia-123212829 Then add lots of emo. I should mention this chapter occurs before the first chapter by… I think four years. Otherwise I'm sure people will get confused.
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