She was everywhere.

If the youngest of Cabin 12 wasn't following after one of the twins, she was trailing behind Dionysus himself. She acted similar to a lost duckling. It had started a couple days ago when he had been watching something on the old television in the Big House. The film room was a great hiding spot from needy campers as it was barely ever used. ADHD campers and movies just didn't mix but Dionysus quite liked it that way. Now he didn't have to share. Watching movies and shows were slowly becoming one of his favorite past times. The wine god had began using the room quite regularly and as a consequence, his DVD collection was growing. That day he'd chosen an easy palatable sitcom called The Nanny and was finding that he quite liked it, letting out a chortle at a remark the butler made to the blonde shrew in a suit. Maybe it was the noise he made or maybe she just was good at scouting him out but he almost spit the mouthful of Diet Coke out when he saw her.

She had poked her face in through the doorway, her gaze had honed in on him lazing on the couch. How long the girl had been there, he wasn't quite sure. At first, he assumed she would just leave if he didn't acknowledge her but that was quickly proved incorrect. He'd only gotten through 2 episodes whilst attempting to ignore her staring before the man had to retreat to his office.

Chiron found it amusing but Dionysus found it strange. She was so…. clingy after only a month. The twins maybe he could understand her fascination. Castor and Pollux were slowly but surely warming up to her. He saw them walking her along the strawberry fields at times with Demeter's cabin for morning activity, the eldest daughter of Cabin 4 teaching them all to control their powers and wield them properly. It was a process for sure. The last time he'd passed by the demigods to make sure they weren't completely screwing over his crops, Pollux was delivering a speech on how to properly and gently grow a strawberry. He was emphasizing gently with a lot of force and the god had wondered why when he found his answer after Sage insisted she was ready to try. The nine year old had managed to conjure up an impressive crop but they were facing the wrong direction. Rather than horizontal, the roots were vertical, stiff and dare he say bloodthirsty. They were punting campers left and right, leaving many of Cabin 4 as well as Castor with bloody and slightly bruised noses and lips for dinner. Chiron had admonished him for leaving so quickly upon questioning him on why he'd come back so early.

"You're supposed to guide them to be better," Chiron had attempted to explain. "Show them the way." Yeah, right. It was an easy thing to say when you weren't in a direct line of fire. Gods forbid the fact that he wanted to keep his nose intact. That kid had too much juice in her for him to even entertain the thought of growing her powers. It was better to leave her to struggle. Besides, he sort of liked watching the hostile strawberries beat up Demeter's kids. What was it that Demeter had said about his offspring? Oh. Right. "They're good for nothing besides farmers." She had sneered haughtily before whisking herself away in a barrage of flowers. Castor didn't seem to hold the injury against her but Cabin 4 was adamant about taking 10 spaces backwards from then on whenever she attempted to display her powers. It brought him a bit of satisfaction. Farmers his ass.

After spending morning and afternoon activities together with the boys as well as meal times her continuously growing attachment to the two boys made sense. Hades, they even shared the same cabin so she was essentially with them 24/7. Of course she was growing affectionate of her siblings. Castor and Pollux on the other hand were still adjusting. He could see that quite clearly when he caught the two of them crouched behind cabin 12, hiding from a searching Sage as they enjoyed a moment to themselves. The two demigods often struggled to find a middle ground with her and it was most certainly from the 5 year gap between the 3. What did two 14 year old boys have in common with a 9 year old girl besides the same father? So there they were once again on another escapade. This time, the two of them had stowed away somewhere in the strawberry fields, laying flat amongst the plants. He could feel it in the roots of the plants and almost hear their whispering. It was ingenious. The girl was certainly not tall enough to see into the fields unless she manually walked up and down to check each row but it hadn't even crossed her mind of the possibility that the field could be used as a hiding spot. To her, her brothers had simply disappeared. And so because Sage couldn't find them, her attention was now turned on him

She stood on the top stair of the deck, staring at him with those big wide purple eyes and he was forced to acknowledge just how creepily piercing they were. Dionysus decided he didn't like it. He conveniently ignored that it was the same stare he gave to others.

The little girl had sought him out. Again. She had found the man sitting in front of the Big House on the porch, idly shuffling a deck of cards in his hands. It was a new deck - something he picked up on his last trip out of camp. A can of cold Diet Coke sat on the table in front of him, a napkin over the top to block out any flies looking for a taste and a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies sat next to him. Sage didn't even spare a glance at the sweets and it threw him off completely. Her dessert intake at meals was so excessive that they'd had to instruct the nymphs to only pass by their table once. What was going on? He narrowed his eyes in suspicion, looking for any sign of foul play at hand but she just looked down at his hand which hadn't stopped shuffling the cards once.

Brown curls stuck out at odd ends of her head, as if it held a mind of its own and the god wondered whether she had ever introduced it to a brush. The camp clothes were fitting her much better now but that might be because of the fact that Dionysus had had to order smaller sizes for the girl (Chiron's persistence won as he insisted that now there were 2 young campers in need of properly fitting clothes) but at least now she wasn't constantly swimming around in her clothing. The vibrant orange t-shirt didn't hang off of her frame as much as it did when she arrived and the god knew that the better diet she received from the camp was a definitive factor in it all too.

Today she was wearing blue short overalls with a little strawberries printed on the pockets, the neon orange camp half blood shirt sticking out at the top with white ruffle socks that peeked from her sneakers. He squinted. Were those strawberries hand painted on? When had she stopped by the Apollo cabin? She was still staring at the cards he held with concentration before looking back up to finally meet his eyes.

"Can I learn how to play?" She asked, breaking the silence. Dionysus pursed his lips and arched an eyebrow.

"It's poker," he told her in a flat voice but Sage remained steadfast, only nodding as if still confirming her interest.

"I want to learn," she told him simply. The god looked around begrudgingly, wondering if there was somebody he could pass her off to before sighing once he found that there was nobody around. Usually his own self isolation worked in his favor however he was finding that now it was the opposite. There was absolutely nobody to pawn his spawn off to unless he stuck her in the attic with the oracle but even he wasn't that deranged. Besides, the last thing he needed was for her to dole out another world ending prophecy. Maybe it would be fine. He could use her instead of conjuring up invisible players.

"Sit."

Chiron joined them soon after. He had finished in the sword fighting arena, waving a greeting before noticing the small girl seated at the table before him. If he was surprised, the man didn't say anything. Instead Chiron just went inside and changed clothes before coming back down in that wheelchair of his. The old man probably assumed that his centaur form was too intimidating for the girl but he'd rather a traumatized young demigod than be forced to deal with the squeaking noise his chair made against the blue wooden floorboards. It was dreadful. Something akin to nails on a chalkboard. Sometimes Dionysus had the urge to roll him straight off the porch when he used that thing but he remained in his wicker chair. If the god rolled Chiron off the stairs, he'd be stuck to play with the kid alone and that was like playing against a wall.

Chiron was kind to the nine year old. He offered her cookies and milk, smiled when she asked for grape juice instead. He chatted with her about her stay, listening and nodding attentively to every word she uttered. The centaur was being the perfect father figure so why the little demigod was staring at Dionysus so earnestly for even the slightest attention confused him.

"Daddy, what's this mean?" Sage showed him her cards and he froze at the term. She was looking at him with those wide purple eyes again, full of curiosity and Dionysus moved his gaze to look at her cards. If the little fool wanted to give him an edge, who was he to complain? He eyed them before pressing his lips in a firm line. Two aces. How had the brat done that? Dionysus looked down at his own two cards which consisted of a 3 and an 8.

"You have a bad hand," Dionysus lied. "We must start a new game."

She looked at her cards with furrowed brows before at Chiron. If the girl had been looking for a second opinion, she was out of luck. The centaur was too stunned to speak. He was staring at the scene completely gobsmacked and it made the man feel good to leave the horse speechless for once. There was only so much wisdom and goodness the god could take from the activities director. The last thing he needed right now was a lecture on taking advantage of her stupidity. Finding that he'd be of no help, she didn't argue. Instead she handed the cards over and watched as he shuffled them, patiently waiting for a new hand. While he did so, she bit into the cookie Chiron had presented her with but even then she was still watching him. It was unnerving.

"Sir!" A satyr came running up in a panic to the deck, clambering up the wooden steps. His hooves skid across the wooden floors of the big house from how fast he'd been going and Dionysus had to take a moment to figure out who was causing such a ruckus. It was Cedar. His shirt was in an utter disarray and there were leaves lodged in his curly blonde hair and caught on his horns. He'd obviously just come from the forest. "Sage! She's-"

"Yes?" The girl answered with her mouth full and Dionysus grimaced at the crumbs that escaped as she did so. Cedar's head snapped straight towards her at the sound of her small voice and he was frozen.

"She's- she's- she's right here," Cedar managed to get out. His voice was a mix of awe, confusion, and relief. Dionysus tilted a brow in annoyance.

"Well yes," he patronized, looking at the young man and wondering if he was properly conveying just how silly he found the whole conversation. The only noise was now the cards in his hands as he absentmindedly shuffled.

"Castor and Pollux-" Cedar started and he was speaking to Sage this time. "They couldn't find you-"

"I'm playing a game," the little girl told him before she perked up at the names of her brothers. "Do they want to play with me?" She was excited now. The cookie was placed onto the plate in front of her again and she stood up.

"I-"

"I have to go, daddy," Sage told him seriously - as if she were waiting for permission. He looked at her strangely, unsure of why she kept calling him that and why she was asking to leave. It's not like the wine god had her glued down and was forcing her to play. If anything, she was the one who initiated this interaction. What did he care that she was leaving? She stood there staring at him again still waiting and Dionysus sighed dramatically. He made a shooing motion with one of his hands and it did the trick. Apparently it was the exact sign she'd been waiting for and the young demigod left excitedly, expertly avoiding running into the satyr who was still standing in the middle of the floor, in search of her brothers who no doubt were losing their shit as they attempted to find her. Cedar was at a loss for words as he watched her go.

"If you want to act like a tree, I can turn you into one," Dionysus supplied helpfully, watching the blood drain from the young man's face as he shook his head back and forth comically fast. Whatever stupor the young man had been in was gone.

"No, sir. Sorry, sir," he bleeted and gave a quick bow. Dionysus said nothing in response. His gaze was now on the cards in his hands but he tilted his head casually towards the way his demigod daughter had just left, meeting eyes with the boy.

"Your duties?"

"Y-Yes, sir; On it, sir!" Cedar was trotting off at once to follow the youngling, plucking leaves out of his hair as he called out for her to slow down. Slowly he began to deal the cards before realizing that she'd left her plate out with the juice box. Insolent demigods, the god thought to himself with a frown. She hadn't even finished her snack halfway. Waving a dismissive hand towards the offending objects, they were immediately sent to the kitchens for the harpies to deal with. He'd reproach her for the disrespect later at dinner. For now, he was looking forward to peace and quiet.

"I feel we are entering a new era," Chiron piped in now and Dionysus rolled his eyes at the ambiguity in his statement.

"Pick up your cards, old fool."