Orange is the color of joy, sociality, adventure. The color itself gives a surge of mind to those who are looking at it. Orange is inspiration, inspiration to go out and experience things you may not be able to later. Orange wants you to live in the moment. And that's what a certain son of Hephaestus needed.
Leo simply needed to live like a normal person. He was too caught up in his fairings. Work, work, and more work. What for? The answer was the war, of course. The war had engulfed every bit of his daily life, and he just needed a break.
So when he woke up one day inside his half-finished battleship project, he couldn't stand it anymore. This was the fourth time that week he fell asleep while working. Four out of seven days. That was.. Leo didn't even want to calculate the percentage today. So he decided to get away from all this, and he went to the place farthest from camp— the beach.
He sat down in the soft sand and wiggles his toes into the cool tide. He thought about his life, this constant horror he had to endure. And unlike his friends, he had no one to endure it with, no one to fight for. So why did he keep it up?
"What for?" Leo blinked, and cracked a smile. His thoughts, combined with his ADHD, had led him to speaking aloud again.
"Are you depressed?" He turned, surprised by the sudden voice, not his own. It was a girl, who looked about eight or nine years old. She had big brown eyes and blonde hair. She stared at him, not unkindly.
Leo sighed. "Not exactly. I'm just kind of...down. Who are you?"
"I'm new here. So why are you down?" The girl sat down next to Leo. She didn't tell him her name, and he didn't ask. He liked the company.
"Stressed. Preparing for the war, of course."
"Do you want some encouragement?" Leo blinked at her, surprised, as she handed him a small candy with an orange wrapper. She smiled widely.
"It's a caramel," she said quietly, "Before she left, my mom used to give me these when I was sad. She said something sweet helps inspire you to go solve your problems, rather than sit and mope."
Man, this girl was something. Leo smiled and took the candy. "Thank you." He unwrapped the candy and popped it into his mouth. The somewhat tangy taste was odd his tongue, and he realized how long he hasn't treated himself to something sweet. He opened his palm and stared at the orange wrapper, absorbing the color into his eyes. The color itself made new thoughts enter his mind.
Leo didn't have to do this. Sure, there was a war, but he wasn't gonna kill himself preparing for it. He didn't have to do this. Seeing the orange inspiration helped him realize that. Leo turned to the girl to thank her, but to his surprise, she was gone. There wasn't even a trace on the sand where she sat before. Shaking his head and smiling, he crumpled the orange wrapper into his fist, and got up. He started to run.
He ran and ran, until he reached the porch of the Big House, where Chiron was. Chiron looked up from his book, seeming surprised. "What brings you here, my boy?"
Leo panted, catching his breath. He could feel the orange wrapper in his palm, he could almost see the color before his eyes still. He looked up and grinned.
"Call a cab for me, I'm going on vacation."