Clarisse — Fight
Clarisse (17) - Travis (17) - Connor (16)
June
during mark of athena
—
The Stoll brothers are cowards.
C-O-W-A-R-D-S.
Fucking cowards, both of them.
This isn't based on unfounded reasons. Hell to the no. In the 8 years since she knew the pranksters, the 3 they been fellow counselors, and the 129 times her cabin spars with theirs not once did she face them in training.
Not freaking once.
They don't think she notices, but she does.
The sick leave notice? The passing of responsibility to Chris for the day? The 'homesick/dying/new' camper who 'desperately' in need of their care?
They couldn't have been more obvious.
Well, this day she caught them, caught their lie smack in the middle. Their horrified faces and pitched screaming as she drags them with her by the collar is a major boost to her day.
Eyes from both her and their cabin are on them when they enter the arena. Chris opens his mouth, but thought better and closes it.
Good.
Nothing is going to save these skipping bastards from her now.
Clarisse let her hold on their shirt go, them falling to the ground in surprise. She steps into the ring, a circle of rocks placed strategically—code for thrown wherever—to ensure safety.
She addresses the one who stands first. "Come on, Connor. Pick up the sword. You're the test dummy of the day."
"I'm Travis."
"Whatever."
Travis didn't follow, instead staying at the edge. His brother whispers into his ears with a cupped hand.
Clarisse scowls, "You're taking too long. We don't have all day."
They didn't acknowledge her which ticks her off immensely.
"Hey, you're done talking. Get in here."
Travis nods one last time to his brother. He steps into the ring with Connor shouting after him, "You got this, Travis! We believe in you! Good luck!" Then in the same breath, turns to one of his half-sister, "You're losing a counselor today."
They all snicker, Clarisse including, but she's not underestimating him. No. There's a reason why he's standing here before her, perfectly intact, after surviving two wars.
"Finally you're here, Grandpa," she snorted at him. She addresses her bystanders, a mixture of Ares and Hermes campers, "Watch and learn. I'm going to show you how to disarm your opponent. Your fraidy-cat counselor is going to turn into an even more of a fraidy cat."
Travis rolls his eyes. "Oh wow, Clarisse, you have such a way with words."
She strikes first, raising her sword up and bringing it down with a quick swipe. Travis steps back sideways rather than bring his sword up. Smart. He's not known for his strength. If he stayed, Clarisse is sure he couldn't block it.
She lunges again and Travis retreats. Lunges, retreats. Lunges, retreats. Lunges, retreat. Lunges, ret— no, he counters. Her sword clashes against his, metal scraping against metal. Travis grunts and stumbles back, feet planting in time to regain balance.
Clarisse smirks and leans forward. Travis pushes back with barely enough force. They continue like this for awhile, Clarisse slowly applying more and more pressure. He's having trouble pushing back. She could see the strain in his face. It breaks with Travis sidestepping suddenly, not that Clarisse wasn't ready for that.
She regains her balance and turns around to face — he's gone.
No, he's not. Clarisse looks over her shoulder and at the sword coming to her.
Travis is fast.
She'll give him that.
But he lacks — and she brought her sword up — the strength to actually do any damage.
She blocks his blow, pushing the blade down so the hilt is exposed. With deft hands, she grabs the sword's handle and tilts it further until Travis' hold is weak. Then she yanks it out of his grasp.
Giving the sword a twirl in her hand, she delights in Travis's shocked face. There's something off though… it doesn't seem genuine, but she shrugs it off. She won. That's all that really matters.
"Everybody got that? Push your opponent's sword to the side and grab the hilt."
Then she turns to Connor and threw his brother's sword before his feet. "Your turn."
Connor takes a step back, chuckling with apprehension. "D-Do I have too?" he stammers, "I mean, we need time to train the others the move, right?"
Clarisse narrows her eyes. There's something about his tone that's not sincere. She doesn't know what but it sounds fake. Oh well, who cares? She's pummelling both of them tonight for avoiding her all these years.
"Don't you two do everything together?" she snaps, "Are you really gonna let your brother be embarrassed by himself? I didn't know you were that type of person."
Connor's eye twitches minisculely, barely noticeable.
She doesn't know them enough to tell them apart, but she definitely knows how to push their buttons. Insult one and the other will get angry.
This wasn't the case, she guesses, because Connor continues to whine, "Come on, Clarisse. We all know you are the strongest."
"Pick it up."
"It has a name, you know."
Clarisse rolls her eyes. "Who cares? Pick it up."
Connor whines one last time but bends down to pick up.
Travis yawns, stretching his hands over his head. He didn't seem bothered by the loss. Heh, this is why he'll never improve as a fighter. The embarrassment of a loss is what fuels Clarisse to improve, to be stronger so she'll never have to lose.
"I did enough?" Travis says, nudging Connor in the shoulder on his way out of the ring.
Connor raises his head and smiles maliciously. "Yeah, you did."
Clarisse doesn't care what that grin means.
Connor steps into the ring and clamps down with both hands on the handle, pointing it at her. Clarisse did the same.
"Same rules."
And she lunges, Connor falling back.
Clarisse learns quickly Connor isn't as fast as Travis. Not even a little bit. He barely dodges her attacks. His guards are around one and a half second slower than his Travis'. His strikes two seconds later than Travis'.
The only difference is that Connor has a cooler head. Travis jumps at the first opening he sees. Connor doesn't. Not that it means much. When he does attack, it's always foiled.
Now she knows why he's so adamant to not fight.
What a coward.
Connor tries to push her sword to the side but it is so easy for her to push back that it's not even funny. She takes a step forward and Connor takes five steps back, quivering in his shoes.
This is pathetic. Clarisse wishes Connor puts up more of a fight.
Travis's speed is what makes him formidable. Without it, he would be just the average joe.
Connor's not fast like his brother. He's not particularly skilled and quick-minded like Percy, nor is he fast and intimidating like Nico.
No, he fights more like — piece of shit — more like Annabeth. Sharp-minded, calculating, observing, efficient.
Clarisse notices too late
A foot is sweeping across hers.
She's stumbling back and Connor rips the sword out her hands.
Clarisse falls on her butt, grunting at the impact.
Connor smirks down at her and waves her sword tauntingly.
"People always underestimates the little brother," he says, "I thought you knew better. Obviously not.
Travis snickers, high-fiving Connor as he walks back to him.
"Okay, break up into pairs!"
"We'll go around and help you each individually."
Later that night, she marches into Hermes' cabin, bang open the door, and stomps all the way to their bed.
Travis peers over his magazine with no care but tumbles off his bed when he sees Clarisse. That didn't deter her in the slightest as she stomps pass the bed and fists Travis' shirt with her hand, lifting his face to hers.
"You threw our match on purpose so your shit brother could watch, you little shit."
"No cussing in our cabin," Connor says with a smirk, peeking down from the top bunk.
Clarisse glowers at him and looks down to see the same disgusting smile on Travis's face.
"We do everything together. I thought you knew that?" Travis taunts.
Her fist tightens and she brought Travis closer to her. The smirk drops of his face—good— and he laughs nervously. "Er, sorry?"
She lets his shirt go and watch him fall to the ground, his elbow landing hard on the floor. Connor scrambles down from the top, giving Clarisse his own scowl.
"You okay, Travis?" And Travis nods, blowing a raspberry at her.
"Again. My cabin and yours. Tomorrow. I already arranged it."
And she marches out, ignoring the groans of Cabin 11's residents.
Why did you guys have to win? You should have both lost. Now we're all gonna suffer again.
She's going to get her revenge. No one makes a fool out of her and gets away with it.
Author's Note: I was supposed to work on this over Spring Break.
Did. Not. Work. On. It. At. All. I blame my brothers. I did nothing but watch anime.
How do you write action scenes? I'm always scared to write for anime that's action-heavy like Naruto or Bleach.
