Hubris of the Gods | IC | OPEN | Fantasy-Demigod RP |

[Ontorisa]

HUBRIS OF THE GODS
A Modern Day Demigod Fantasy RP By Ontorisa; Presented by The Pub, a P2TM RP Group.
Links:
OOC (Apply for the RP Here)
IC - You Are Here
Archive (Post your accepted applications here)


Theme Song

Near Hurnville, Texas
United States of America
April 29 2016

Sammy Beauguard looked at the medium-sized, heavily decorated wooden coffin sitting in front of her as her three friends, Toby Gregors, Diana Samuelsson and Keith MacNeill stood around the cramped, ancient room. Beauguard, with all of her time serving the Gods and her time on various quests, had never seen the designs on the coffin. It was mostly Greek letters, Greek drawings, but there was a bit of Latin written on it. Of course, her understanding of Ancient Greek, despite being the Daughter of Apollo, was limited. Looking back at her friends, she motioned to the most proficient in Greek, Gregors, to read what was on it.

"What's up Sammy?" Toby asked her.

"Here, there's a ton of Ancient Greek written all over this coffin." Sammy looked at Toby, before pointing at the various Greek letters. "Mind being the translator?"

"For sure." Toby bent over to get a better look at what it said.

It was only for a few moments, but Toby stood back up and looked back at Sammy, visibly shaken. He breathed quickly before looking at each of them, something was not right at all. Toby took another breath before he gathered himself.

"We need to go." Toby said, determination and fear in his voice.

"Now?" Someone else asked.

"Now."

Sammy stepped out from the room into an open, underground room. Drawing her sword, she looked around at the three corridors leading into the room, one on each side. Toby arrived behind her, Diana and Keith behind him, with their Celestial Bronze swords drawn, ready for combat.

"What did it say Toby?" Sammy asked quickly, as she scanned the room before locating the corridor they had come from.

"One sec." Toby took his time before reciting what he had read. "A forgotten enemy shall rise again, A Gods' Bane, The sides shall unite, Forced together to fall or fight."

"Reassuring." Keith muttered in the back as Sammy made her way to the right-most corridor, her sword still in her hand.

As they made their way down the corridor, and eventually to a set of steps that brought them upwards to a small landing, that was equally ancient as the structure below, Sammy could hear talking from the other side of the wall. Of course the structure wasn't that deep, why would it be? Looking around the dimly lit room, Sammy eventually found her way to the door that led outside. The fossil stone door, with various symbols written all over it was in her way. Looking around the door for a switch or lever, Sammy eventually made up her mind to push the bulging circle at the top of the door.

With a click, the door moved slowly to the right, inside of the wall. Outside, a silver Ford Pick-Up awaited them. The demigod they had left above to guard the door, James Zuckerson, was gone. Sammy puffed her cheeks as she stepped outside, looking around before sheathing her sword. Her small group emerged as well, all of them following Sammy.

"Where's James?" Keith asked, spinning about, trying to figure out where he was. "He was up here when we went down."

"I know Keith, something's not right." Sammy responded, before she saw a figure of someone approaching them from a distance away. "James?!"

The figure got closer, a young man who couldn't have been older than 20-years old. His khaki shorts were caked in dust while his long brown hair was brought back in a simple knot. His white and green striped shirt however, was tattered, almost ripped apart. Sammy looked as James Zuckerson drew closer, before she saw what was in his hand. A composite bow, but no quiver?

"James?" Diana called out to him, but he ignored her, staring blankly at Sammy. "James? Where'd you get the bow?"

Without any warning, Jason stopped before raising the bow. Suddenly, an arrow appeared in his hand as he drew the arrow back, the string obeying his command.

"Oh shit!" Toby shouted as the group ducked for cover.

The arrow whizzed over the head of Sammy as she leaped behind the Ford. It embedded itself in the dirt a few feet away from Sammy. Another arrow whizzed by before Sammy drew her sword. 4 against 1, whatever James was doing, he was about to get himself killed.

"Toby! Take Diana and flank around the building!" Sammy shouted an order to Toby. "Keith! Hang tight! I'll be there in a sec!"

"Got it Sam!" Toby and Diana quickly peeled from their cover and ran to the opposite side of the building they had just come out of.

"What in the name of the Gods is he doing?!" Keith shrieked, another arrow whizzing over his head.

As Keith complained about arrows being shot at him, Sammy snuck a look around the end of the truck. James was getting closer and closer, taking a few steps before materializing another arrow in his hand. He shot it at Sammy, but the arrow missed her face by inches, hitting the truck instead. Yelling at Keith to charge him, Sammy readied herself, sword in hand and charged James.

Just as she did that, James' bow transformed in front of her into a wicked, 4 foot spear. He smiled before side stepping Sammy's charge. He didn't miss Keith's charge however, who landed a well placed strike on James' chest. What Sammy expected was for James to fall over and bleed to death, instead he simply took a step back, gold liquid leaking from the wound. No, not just any gold liquid, Ichor, the blood of the Gods. Both Sammy and Keith looked at not-really-James, who grinned at them.

"You both have no idea how long I've been waiting for this." James said, looking at them with evil in his eyes. "He shall rise again, stronger and extract his revenge. Too bad your friends won't be there to see it."

James' spear first impaled the stunned Keith, who did little to react to it. Pushing the spear through Keith, James then slammed the spear on the ground before pushing Keith's body off with his foot. Sammy struck him with her sword, right across the face. James retaliated, bringing the butt of the spear up, aiming at Sammy's face. Dodging by bringing her head back, Sammy called out for Diana and Toby, who were just nearing the corner.

Flipping the spear into his hand, James aimed and threw it at the two incoming demigods, the spear screaming in the air before impaling Diana's shoulder. She howled in pain and collapsed. Toby didn't pay her attention for now, it was a fight of survival right now.

"That wasn't smart James." Toby growled as he ran in, his sword swinging but only hitting where James had been a second ago.

Sammy came in with an underhand jab, aiming for James' torso, but missed. Instead, James sidestepped, grabbing her arm and wrist, pulling her in before disarming her sword from her. He kicked it up to himself, parred an incoming strike from Toby before managing to nick the back of his arm. Toby grasped it, looking shocked at what had just happened, turning a bit pale. James finished him off, hitting Toby's sword hard enough that Toby's sword arm flailed to the right, leaving his torso open for a strike. Holding her wrist, which throbbed painfully, Sammy only watched as James cut Toby down.

She sniffed, in pain, waiting for James to cut her down as well. Instead he loomed over her, grabbing her head and forcing her to look up at him. James had grown at least two feet, his body becoming much more muscular. A beard had quickly grew on his face as James, didn't look like James anymore.

"Do you know who I am?" The voice was deeper, booming with power.

"N-No." Sammy managed, gripping her arm.

"I am Lelantos, Titan of Air and Stalking Prey." Lelantos eyes gleamed at Sammy. "And you are my prey."

Sammy wheeled her eyes shut, waiting for the immense pain to commence. Instead, she heard a dry, rasp laugh from Lelantos. Opening her eyes, Sammy saw Lelantos shake his head sideways, still chuckling.

"Your friends were expendable, they were not part of my King's plan." Lelantos told her, before bringing up Sammy's right arm, forcing her hand open and placing some sort of medallion in it. "I want you to keep me informed of the Greeks' movements, plans and quests."

"W-Why?" Sammy asked, Lelantos' eyes boring into hers.

"That's none of your concern. Understand that if you agree to do this for me, you will be rewarded greatly, Samantha Beauguard." Lelantos closed her hand before letting it droop by her side. "Do not attempt to inform your low life brethren however. I will know about it, and you will suffer a worse death than your friends have endured today."

A gurgle could be heard, as Diana tried sitting up, the spear still in her shoulder. Sammy quickly looked over, Lelantos following her gaze. He sighed, almost bored with Diana already before he walked over and withdrew the spear. Diana screamed in pain before Lelantos put her out of her misery. He drew the spear out again, and made it disappear in a bright flash of light. Just watching him, Sammy felt a wave of nausea and sorrow wash over her. In just 5 minutes, Sammy had just lost some of the closest friends she had ever made. Feeling a tear run down her face, Sammy collapsed, her body jerking as she began to cry pitifully. It didn't last long before Lelantos pulled her up, making her look at his face.

His eyes were not brown anymore, but rather gold. Almost solid gold. The eyes of a Titan. Sammy made key observations about his face. A scar ran down the right side of it, and it looked to have been there for a while. Some memento from the War of the Titans or something rather recent? Sammy couldn't tell as Lelantos kept her locked with his gaze.

"Do we have a deal, Samantha?" Lelantos asked her.

Sammy nodded pitifully, what did she have to lose?

---

The Greek Hamlet of Olympus
United States of America
May 4th 2016

Anthony Hoffman looked around the spacious housing accommodation that many called "The Athena Joint". It was the house were the Athena Group have lived in for years, with each bedroom having two beds in them. Sitting on the couch while watching a game of baseball on the television, Anthony could only imagine how the Athena Joint must have looked like back in the 1990's, 1980's, 1970's and so forth.

The small TV room's walls were covered in various schematics of electronic devices, architecture, engineering, everyone's favourite historical general and a photo of Athena, just small enough and located in a corner so it would be pretty funny to look at. A few of the Athenian demigods were in the room with Anthony, watching the MLB game. Peter Hawkons, a recent inductee into the hamlet who was from Tampa Bay, Florida, Zach Lewis, one of the older demigods in the group from Winnipeg, Canada and also the funniest guy in the Athena Joint, Cody Delacroix, a 19-year old local guy from the Bronx and finally, Amanda Franson, a down-to-earth girl from New Orleans. And right now, some of the brightest minds in Olympus or even in the United States, were all watching the New York Yankees get absolutely smoked by the Kansas City Royals.

"Morales with a drive to left field and it is gone! Boom baby!" The announcer on the television screamed out loud as a good portion of the group groaned. "The score is now 16-5 for the Royals! And it looks like the Yankees pitcher is getting the yank!"

"This is so stupid." Zach complained, motioning at the TV, sitting up from a leather LaZy Boy arm chair. "No way should the Yankees suck this bad."

"They've been pretty shit for a while Zach." Peter snorted at Zach's complaining. "Relax eh?"

"Yeah but, haven't the Yankees always been good?" Zach leaned back, puffing out his cheeks.

Anthony's phone buzzed suddenly in his pocket as he picked it up. The caller ID said Erin McKenzie, one of the most influential people in the Greek faction. Why the hell was she calling Anthony?

Swiping the small icon right, Anthony placed his iPhone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hi Anthony, this is Erin." Erin spoke crisply into the phone. "We have a situation, two actually."

"You want me to head over or-"

"No, I want you to plan this yourself. First of all, a demigod has surfaced in downtown New York. The sentries say that they don't know who his godly parent is, but he's got some sort of power and shit. This is huge, honestly, and we've never seen something like this before. Secondly, you remember Sammy Beauguard?" Erin explained the two situations briefly. "Both her and her group that set out last week haven't been back yet, and the Council's starting to get concerned about that."

"I can do the rogue demigod, but why worry about Sammy? She knows what she's doing, right?" Anthony replied, stepping outside of the TV Room for privacy. "Have you told Lan yet? He should know if one of his siblings are MIA."

"Not yet, he's the guy I was gonna call right after." Erin sighed on the other end, sounding a bit stressed. "Listen, this is top shit, Derek's been getting these visions about this enormous guy covered in soot, fire and reeks of disaster, rising up from the earth. Plus he's been getting brief voices from the Gods, specifically Athena, in his head saying The two must reunite, the Truce has broken."

"You think the Romans have something to do with this?" Anthony put on a pair of flip-flops, opened up the front door and left the Athena Joint, walking down a stone path to the Main House, where Erin would be.

"Potentially, but I'm more concerned about our people, rather than the fucking Romans." Erin hissed, hating the thought of working with the Romans. "I'm telling you right now Anthony, there's some deep shit coming up ahead, and I'd love for us to get these two issues resolved before we start worrying about Derek's visions and voices in his head."

"Gotcha, I'll round up a few people and head out to grab that demigod." Anthony nodded to himself.

"And Anthony?"

"Yep?"

"Be careful, yeah? The world's not as safe as it used to be out there."

"You worry about Sammy and Derek, I'll worry about the world."

---

The Roman Villa of Praetoria
United States of America
May 4th 2016

A sharp rap at Crystal's door was the only thing that took to wake her up from her slumber in her Dormitorio Praetor. Groaning, she checked the clock to see what time it was. 8:21 AM the clock read in bold red numbers. Fixing her hair up into a messy bun, she stood up in the relatively cramped room. A simple double bed with various sheets, a small laptop on top of a smaller computer desk with one of those cool wheely chairs were tucked in a corner. Across the walls were pictures of her and fellow Roman demigods on various expeditions across the western United States, some of them in the most unusual spots like Mount Rushmore. An old, wooden dresser with an equally old mirror sat near the door. Quickly changing into shorts and a light blue t-shirt, Crystal finally opened up the door to come face-to-face with fellow Praetor Cole Xavier. He towered over Crystal, almost threateningly before he nodded.

"You ready? Morning address is in a few minutes." Cole asked her, running his hand through his dark brown hair.

"Yeah, gimmie a sec. I'll meet you outside of the Dormitorio." Crystal spoke quickly before hopping over in the bathroom that the two shared, located in between their rooms.

Inside, Crystal brushed her teeth, washed her face and briefly brushed her hair before stepping back out into the long, dimly lit hallway. The Dormitorio Praetor was probably a 200 year old building, but it had tradition. The first Praetors of the Romans in North America slept in here when it was considered to be brand new. Various small and cramped rooms, originally meant for Roman demigods, were being converted into offices for the Senators of the Roman Senate. They were simply a desk, a couple of chairs and a ton of paperwork. Senators didn't have it easy it appeared.

Opening up the double doors and stepping outside into the warm, breezy, Californian air, Crystal breathed in a helping of the wonderfully fresh air. Every single day here, she cherished. And the view from the Villa was to die for, located just high enough so that you could get a good mixture of the Los Angeles skyline and nature's beauty.

"Shit, I'm hungry." Crystal murmured as she met with Cole. "Mess Hall first?"

"Hah, aren't you always hungry?" Cole shook his head at her. "Can't, Morning Address is in about 8 minutes. We're not about to be the first Praetors late to an Address."

"Ugh, Cole, you die hard." Crystal poked fun at him, lightly punching him on the shoulder. "Fine. I just hope the Mess Hall has omelettes or something nice this morning. Getting pretty tired of just eating cereal."

"Glutton." Cole muttered, smiling at Crystal.

"Excuse me Mr. I've-Beaten-The-Record-For-Most-Chicken-Wings-Eaten-In-One-Sitting? What did you just say?" Crystal retorted, playfully acting hurt. "And you're calling me a glutton."

Traditionally, it was typical for the Praetors of the Roman Demigods to be completely friendly with each other, treating each other more like best friends than colleagues. It was that chemistry between Crystal and Cole that helped the Roman Demigods perform to the best of their abilities. Both of them relied on each other to cover each others' workload, help out and to direct the initiates.

"I'm just saying, you eating five bowls of cereal and wanting Nutella and toast after is pretty un-Praetor like." Cole laughed as Crystal shook her head. "Come on, those chicken wings were tiny. Three of them would count for an actual chicken wing."

"Yeah, yeah, let's just go do this address and then make fun of each other after." Crystal winked at Cole before walking towards the parade square.

[The Ik Ka Ek Akai]

The Greek Hamlet of Olympus
United States of America
May 4th 2016

Alessandra stood in the cool morning air. She'd already gotten fully dressed nearly an hour ago, wearing very simple clothing: a t-shirt, some rather plain jeans, a pair of black boots, and a leather jacket to fend off the cool air aside from being simply stylish. This place, this New York, was a much colder place than she'd known in her life. Italy and Texas both proved fairly warm climates, the latter practically tropical, and so it was very strange to feel a bit cold as late into the year as May, even though she'd been in the state for a couple of years. Alessandra had spent the last hour or so waking herself up, taking a couple of walks, smelling the fresh air that lay beyond the smoggy concrete pasture miles away, and even doing a few stretches in relative peace and quiet. She had begun her most recent exercise in training, gaining whatever experience for combat she could through simple practice.

Alessandra lay down a bag near her feet and pull from it a gleaming bronze javelin. The copper-colored form shone like the sun in the morning light, giving off a beautiful golden gleam that left little to be desired. It was crafted of solid bronze, rumored to be the make of Hephaistos himself, and officially it was property of the camp. Alessandra called out to her mother to help her guide the javelin straight and true, to calculate all that needed to be done to ensure a successful flight path. She lifted the javelin into the air and bent her arm, getting it in a position to throw. She listened to the call of the wind to resolve the position of her target exactly, closing her eyes to better concentrate and listen. "Boom, baby!" She heard, clear as day, from the area of her aim. Feeling the wind blowing her long, flowing curls, she estimated the speed at which it went. Factoring this in, as well as the weight of the missile in her hand, she pulled her arm back and prepared to give it one great toss straight through the wall of the Athena cabin, striking through the center of the television and ending any future discussion of the Yankees.

She moved her arm forward before feeling a metaphorical tug on her wrist, and on the back of her mind. The javelin fell from her hand and landed, point buried in the dirt, just a few feet in front of her. Allie could feel eyes, movement, and had the creeping suspicion confirmed as, with her own sight, she viewed people starting to emerge from their cabins, and the Athena cabin especially. Quickly grabbing the javelin, she ran to the actual training ground, giggling to herself as she did so. It would've been an excellent prank, perhaps, but avoiding the wrath of her cabin-mates, the whole like of which she barely knew despite years of coexistence, was more of a top priority. The thrill of the run had made it so that, upon arriving at the training ground, she took a seat and let out a small, dainty laugh. Placing the javelins back from whence they came, she returned to the main campground commons to enjoy what little more time of peace and relative quiet she would have until the masses would gather.

In a while, it was about time for breakfast. Alessandra made her way to the mess hall, taking a seat at an empty table, and looked around the room as she pondered how hungry she actually was. People of all sorts began to flood the room, from every walk of life, every appearance, and every god, the room was as diverse as New York City itself, although with significantly less tension about said diversity. Thinking back to just a small while ago, to when she almost pulled off the prank of a lifetime, she began to realize how stupid the idea might've been. Well thought-out, certainly, but the potential reprimand should the culprit be discovered was simply not worth the chance to ignore local sports teams that she cared little about. They were not her own, and so she saw little reason to care.

Once again analyzing the room, she quietly began to hope she could enjoy a relatively empty table. She didn't have the gut to tell someone to piss off directly to their face, and she held no ill feeling about anyone in particular, but she did enjoy a degree of isolation that might be soon lost. Thus, it could only be by the grace of fortune that her table remain mostly empty, rather than filling in a quick minute like so many others. Fortune smiles on the bold, so the saying went, and so she doubted that fortune would smile on her.

[Ontorisa]

The Greek Hamlet of Olympus
United States of America
May 4th 2016

Anthony walked inside of the Mess Hall and examined what choices the Demeter demigods & the immortal chefs had to offer. As he examined, someone almost appeared behind the counter. Slightly startled by the sudden appearance of a figure in his peripheral vision, Anthony backed up a tiny bit and looked at who it was. It was Grace Thompson, Daughter of Demeter. Nervously cracking a smile, Grace returned the smile.

"How are we Anthony?" She asked, maintaining the smile.

"Pretty good, and you Grace?" Anthony returned the gesture as he grabbed a bright red apple and a small chicken wrap.

"I'm okay, missing Sammy and Tobs." Grace sighed, gazing off in the distance. "When are they supposed to be back? Do you know?"

"Not really, sorry." Anthony answered the question, shifting his tray to the right to move onto drinks, Grace followed him from the counter.

"Come on, the Strategos of the Greeks doesn't know where one of the few quest groups are?" Grace then followed Anthony to his seat, where Anthony chose to sit beside Alessandra Agnelli. "That doesn't sound right at all, or you're just a scatterbrain and refuse to admit it."

"Grace, where is this all coming from? I have no clue where they are." Anthony protested, taking a bite of his apple.

Almost immediately, Anthony nearly vomited as the piece of apple rotted at a rapid rate in his mouth. Spitting it out and gagging, he looked at the perfectly good apple, then at Grace. She giggled before waving her hands as if to say oh you got me.

"What was that for?" Anthony avoided the apple and instead moved onto the wrap.

"Anthony, nothing sounds right. I mean, if you, one of the best strategists of the Greeks, don't know where a quest group is, doesn't that raise red flags?" Grace appeared to be puzzled as she spoke.

"Erin doesn't know where they are either." Anthony grumbled as he took a bite of the wrap. "You're not gonna make this go bad in my mouth either, are you?"

"Maybe later." Grace got up, patting Anthony's shoulder as she returned to the counter, smiling and greeting others.

"Fuck, I hate it when people think I know what's going on." Anthony shifted his attention to his sibling. "How's it going Alessandra?"

[The Ik Ka Ek Akai]

"Fuck, I hate it when people think I know what's going on." Anthony shifted his attention to his sibling. "How's it going Alessandra?"

"Cosi-cosi" she replied, sounding the slightest bit tired. Some part of her felt annoyed at the mere presence of someone trying to make contact with her, but a greater part realized that it was unfair to think such a thing, and that all-in-all, her desire for isolation was her own issue more than anything else. "How about you?" She replied, starting to warm up a bit. This was, after all, a half-brother, and furthermore he was more of a senior in the camp than her other half-siblings. He was an authority figure in a weird way, and so she felt she could trust him perhaps just a bit more. In combination with the trick played by the children of Demeter, this had perhaps lightened her morning just enough to forget the gossip and worries going around camp.

Even still, something felt off. Rumors had been spreading for a while, stories about a missing quest squad. This was unusual to say the least, although Alessandra had hardly known much about the actual goings-on of a quest, as she'd never been given anything of particular importance. It was a safe option to not be given anything, but it was a bit disappointing. At the same time, she could understand the decision: she wasn't always the best team-player, and she wasn't a tanking warrior like many of the other Children of Athena were. It was disappointing, but overall understandable. Her ultimate conclusion was that camp politics were just as odd as politics anywhere else.

[Ontorisa]

The Greek Hamlet of Olympus
United States of America
May 4th 2016

"Cosi-cosi" she replied, "How about you?"

"I'm alright, I have to deal with a bunch of shit on my plate right now." Anthony huffed, before he continued to motion. "Figure of speech, just in case. I had a run in with some demigod in Boston who didn't understand metaphors."

Anthony breathed in a sigh of fresh air, wafting through one of the open doors as a group of, visibly upset Athena demigods walked through the door. Immediately, Anthony recognized them from the TV room, with Zach looking completely out of his usual attitude, being snappy or not talking. One of the arriving demigods, Peter, shuffled over and sat beside Anthony, visibly sad.

"What's up bud?" Anthony asked Peter cheerfully, looking over with a piece of chicken wrap still in his mouth.

"Something broke the TV." Peter murmured, looking at the table. "Like, something hit the Joint's wall and it caused enough force to knock the TV off of its moorings."

"Anyone get hurt?"

"My feelings did." Peter looked down, before his head perked back up. "Hey are those chicken wraps?"

"Yeah, Grace did a number of them I hear." Anthony grinned and took another bite. "There's a ton of them up there."

"Oh man, I'm gonna grab like nine, I'm starving." Peter got up and left for the Mess Hall's counter, where Grace appeared to be trying her best at smiling at everyone.

"Jeez, some siblings, eh?" Anthony chuckled, shaking his head. "Listen, I have to get a small party together to go grab this demigod who's been roaming around the Big Apple for a bit. Wondering if you'd like to head up with us?"

[The Ik Ka Ek Akai]

The Greek Hamlet of Olympus
United States of America
May 4th 2016

"Cosi-cosi" she replied, "How about you?"

"I'm alright, I have to deal with a bunch of shit on my plate right now." Anthony huffed, before he continued to motion. "Figure of speech, just in case. I had a run in with some demigod in Boston who didn't understand metaphors."

Anthony breathed in a sigh of fresh air, wafting through one of the open doors as a group of, visibly upset Athena demigods walked through the door. Immediately, Anthony recognized them from the TV room, with Zach looking completely out of his usual attitude, being snappy or not talking. One of the arriving demigods, Peter, shuffled over and sat beside Anthony, visibly sad.

"What's up bud?" Anthony asked Peter cheerfully, looking over with a piece of chicken wrap still in his mouth.

"Something broke the TV." Peter murmured, looking at the table. "Like, something hit the Joint's wall and it caused enough force to knock the TV off of its moorings."

"Anyone get hurt?"

"My feelings did." Peter looked down, before his head perked back up. "Hey are those chicken wraps?"

"Yeah, Grace did a number of them I hear." Anthony grinned and took another bite. "There's a ton of them up there."

"Oh man, I'm gonna grab like nine, I'm starving." Peter got up and left for the Mess Hall's counter, where Grace appeared to be trying her best at smiling at everyone.

"Jeez, some siblings, eh?" Anthony chuckled, shaking his head. "Listen, I have to get a small party together to go grab this demigod who's been roaming around the Big Apple for a bit. Wondering if you'd like to head up with us?"

She almost laughed at the sudden change in attitude as her half-siblings approached. From a feeling of pity to one of humor as the subject shifted from a broken television to some new food. Alessandra decided by this point that she might skip breakfast, holding no particular appetite at the moment and feeling in no mood to stand and actually get the food to begin with. Lethargy is a tool of wisdom: the laziest people will be the most efficient.

She smiled at Anthony's chuckle, putting her into a lighter humor. Then, however, just as she had been mulling about not having gone on any quests as of late, and never of anything of importance, she was offered something to do: to break monotony and introduce a little spice of exploration and adventure into her life once more. "S-sure." she stated, almost disbelieving. This would, to anyone who really knew Alessandra, be something of a big step, as the girl had a nasty tendency towards isolation and limited contact. Thus, accepting a position on a team quest voluntarily, for the antisocial girl, was a leap ahead of how she usually conducted herself.

Once more, her mind began to drift to how she felt trusting of Anthony. It was, perhaps, because he did not conduct himself like a roommate or a camp buddy or any other silly manner of artificiality, but instead as a regular person, a friend, a brother, and a counselor. He seemed to be filled with all the stereotypical fun and energy counselors were supposed to have, although in a way that was bearable. He was a reliable confidant, not that she'd used him as such, but overall his character seemed genuine and friendly: something she'd felt was overall lacking among her half-siblings, who all seemed to be about parties and math, two things she never took well to.

[Ontorisa]

The Greek Hamlet of Olympus
United States of America
May 4th 2016

"S-sure." she stated

Anthony smiled at the response. He had noticed in the past how Alessandra had usually been left with quests such as "Go with a couple of Demeter Demigods and harvest some wheat" or the classic "Find the polish and polish some armour", the usual & typical "we don't really trust you yet" type of quests. Yeah, the Greeks were a tiny bit paranoid like that. As Strategos, Anthony sort of put that together on Day One when he had foolishly suggested to re-open relations with the Romans in order to be able to help each other in times of need. Erin didn't really like that, and neither did the entire Council.

"Alright, you'll probably need just your sword." Anthony explained, taking out his iPhone and showing the notes he had taken right after his phone call with Erin. "This demigod, whoever he is and whoever his parent is, has one of the most powerful potentials in the Eastern Seaboard, maybe in the entire continent. Of course, ever since the sentries caught whiff of this guy, there's been speculation that his father could not even be an Olympian. But, y'know, paranoid Greeks, pretty recurring theme throughout history."

"The catch is, the guy doesn't seem convinced he's a demigod. He appears to be pretty content with the mortal life he has. The Council's pretty worried about this because of his potential and the unwanted attention he's liable to get soon, from, erm, monsters. Yeah, fuck it, you've read some of the myth books, you know what I'm talking about, right?" Anthony continued to explain, scrolling down the notes, allowing Alessandra to look at each detailed note, carefully at her own pace. "So, this quest that we're given is just to go over there and convince him, either through words or force, to come with us back to here, Olympus. Sounds easy right?"

There was shuffling was Peter came back with a cafeteria-style tray, covered in chicken wraps. He sat beside Anthony, munching on one of the wraps as soon as he sat down. Zach, Cody and Amanda soon sat down as well with their trays with various brunch-style meals on them. As the Mess Hall began to pick up speed, a few more demigods arrived, some of them bruised from returning from quests or training, others still in their pyjamas and barely awake, a few of them were on edge, wearing their armour as they patrolled the boundaries of Olympus. Recently, with the Truce's power fading, the magic that had originally protected Olympus from any attacks from the outside was also fading as well, growing weaker and weaker by the week. As a result, the Greeks had started setting up patrols of 4 demigods each to patrol the entire perimeter of the Hamlet. Typically there were about 2 patrols going at a time, with a few stationary sentries to spot and monsters that managed to slip through.

It worked most of the time, except for two weeks ago when a Hell Hound slipped through in the middle of the night and gobbled up an Apollo demigod who had gone for a midnight run. After that, no one went out after midnight, just out of fear of potentially being snatched up by an undetected monster.

"I'm starved, holy." Zach complained as he bit into a sandwich. "Did I ever tell you guys, the first week I was here, I tried drinking watermelon juice, right? Anyways, so 17-year old me goes and takes like a tub of it and just chugs it. Get this: turns out the watermelon juice didn't agree with my system, so I had the runs for weeks. It sucked, especially when I had to either miss some training or just shit the entire time."

"TMI Zach." Amanda scoffed, leaning in and taking a large gulp of her wrap. "So, anyone have plans today?"

"I gotta fix the TV somehow." Peter mumbled, with Cody wrapping his arm around his neck.

"I gotcha brother! We'll do it together!" Cody laughed, giving Peter a quick noogie. "Of course, you're gonna go swimming right before."

"What?" Peter looked at Cody, completely confused.

"Yeah, the pond's pretty nice at this time of the day."

Peter's eyes widened, realizing what Cody meant. Trying to scramble away, Cody picked Peter up and dragged him outside. Anthony shook his head before looking at Zach, who shrugged at him.

"Can't say that didn't happen to me at least once." Zach murmured, biting another piece of his sandwich.

"Yeah but, doesn't Cody take it just a bit too far?" Anthony remarked, looking out the window at a few demigods (most of them from the Athena Group) dunking Peter inside of the lake.

"Nah, I ended up getting tossed to a Dracaena during one of my hazings." Zach snorted, remembering the moment. "That was fun."

[The Ik Ka Ek Akai]

"Dimmi" she stated, being given the details of the quest. It was certainly not an epic like that of Odysseus or Perseus or Heracles, the great heroes of the past, but it was a cut far above what she was used to. The details were laid out, she was given a picture, a plan overview, and told she would almost certainly only need her sword. As this was said, she was thinking of all the extraneous things she could pack just to be safe: pack smart, but not heavy. The day might not have been entirely a waste after all, the upcoming quest looked quite promising and could prove to lighten the morning up with a little bit of excitement for the upcoming trip out of the camp. Then, and only then, did her cabinmates bust rudely into everything and carry on with their usual antics.

Listening to all the talk of hazing and rude treatment, being thrown to beasts, was exactly why Alessandra didn't trust them. She'd done her best to avoid hazing: on top of already being antisocial, having her roommates try to haze eliminated any real trust they had, especially since they could only get a good hold of her while she slept. She had not completely escaped hazing, however, as she would, on occasion, wake up tied to the flagpole or being tossed into the lake, among other things. They all gathered around her now, acting as if none of it happened, but she never really moved on from it all. It was strange, cruel, and otherwise unknown to Alessandra, who thus spoke up in Italian that she may voice her thoughts without letting others know truly what she was saying:

"Nonnismi è non divertente, non allegro, e semplicemente crudele. La mia supporta sono essi." she stated, her voice relatively quiet to the chatter going on around her. She sighed, knowing her words fell on deaf ears, but at the same time feeling relief for being able to voice her concerns. Likewise, it was perhaps best they did not know. She could hardly consider herself part of their clique, and would feel awkward and excluded should she attempt to stop their hazing. Ultimately, she only knew that a few things could be done, one of which was to simply walk away. "Non ho fame." She stated bluntly, standing up and leaving the table of people she, for the most part, did not quite enjoy being around.

As she took her steps outside, she saw Peter being tossed into the lake. She cringed at the splash that came, but took advantage of the opportunity presented before her. Sneaking up, carefully, quietly, she shoved Cody into the lake as a taste of the hazing. He was hoist by his own petard, so to speak, and Alessandra found a good laugh in her ability to do this as she stepped away from the edge to avoid being dragged in with him, although she may have tossed the nearest floaty object to Peter out of pity for the poor fool. Now safely on dry land, far enough from the water's edge, she felt content and justified in what she had just done.

[Ontorisa]

The Greek Hamlet of Olympus
United States of America
May 4th 2016

Cody's head popped back up above the water, sputtering and briefly panicking. All around, the various demigods who had helped him push Peter in were now laughing at him, grinning and patting Alessandra's shoulder. It was only in a fun gesture that everyone got pushed into the pond at least once. As the flotation device came flinging in towards Peter, he grabbed it and slowly doggy paddled to shore before getting out, looking at his drenching wet clothes. He made his way to Alessandra and genuinely smiled at her.

"Thanks, that was pretty hilarious." Peter said to Alessandra before making his way back to Athena's Joint to change into dry clothes.

Cody however, was not taking this so well, spewing a stream of curse words, varying from Ancient Greek to English, as he swam to shore. Once he got out, he glared at Alessandra before changing his face to humour for the other demigods, laughing and joking at him. However, Cody's eyes shot darts at Alessandra, as if to say This isn't over in a mischievous way.

---

Anthony watched the events take place at the pond, musing over it while taking a swig from his water bottle. Alessandra had guts, he hadn't seen Cody get pushed in since his first days at Olympus. It was amusing as Anthony revealed in the memories of his first year before Zach caught his attention, his facial expression dead serious.

"So, Anthony, since we're sorta brothers, could you mind answering something?" Zach asked quietly, probably one of the first times he had never spoken in his booming voice.

"Sure, what's up?" Anthony asked, silently praying to Athena that it wasn't about Sammy Beauguard's missing quest party.

"What happened to Sammy? Is she gonna be back soon or something? Wasn't she supposed to be back two days ago?" Zach said in a very low tone while Anthony thought Thanks mom.

"Listen, I don't even know. A few people have asked me already, and one of them even turned a piece of apple in my mouth rotten. Only thing I know is that Erin and the entire council are figuring out a plan for this." Anthony finally answered after a few seconds of thought. "I'm currently focused on bringing in a demigod from the Big Apple before looking to find Sammy's group."

"Thanks, it's just her younger sister's been worried sick." Zach nodded and resumed eating his brunch.

Oh shit, Anthony realized as he heard what Zach said. This just keeps getting better and better. Beauguard Jr. Trisha Beauguard.

"Hey, about Beau Jr.?" Anthony quickly spoke to Zach, who looked up from his sandwich and regarded him. "Is she okay? Has Lan and the senior demigods in Apollo been taking care of her?"

"Yeah yeah, I heard from a few that they took like treats and stuff to her, obviously preparing for the worst." Zach replied in a hushed tone, his words not really the most morale-boosting. "But, seriously, we need to get out there and find her."

"After I find this demigod." Anthony grabbed his gear and walked out of the Mess Hall, heading towards the Apollo House, looking to find his first quest buddy, Langhorne “Lan” Eaton.

[The Greater States of Valyria]

The Greek Hamlet of Olympus
United States of America
May 3rd 2016

"Henry, you bumbling idiot, it's not that damn hard!" Lan yells at his half-brother Henry Yourick through a walkie talkie.

Henry is roughly an eight of a mile away, 197 meters to be exact, if Lan's mental calculations are correct. The seventeen year old new recruit is standing on top of the Apollo House, scared shitless and rightfully so, but Lan couldn't let him believe his nervous jitters were justified otherwise the boy would never make the shot. He would be using a recurve bow with a 35 pound draw weight, nothing fancy, but the arrow was anything but typical. Lan himself had created it, he was quite proud his work to, and it was straight out of a cartoon. The head wasn't sharp, but instead had a dull point shaped like a boxing glove. The near-impossible shot Lan was expecting a boy who he has known for less than a week to make was one he himself would be challenged to make. Henry would be firing the arrow through a hole in a tree with a four inch diameter that was 25 meters away and three feet higher than his position on the roof. The arrow would then continue its unlikely journey through the air another 40 meters before striking a six inch target. When struck that target would send a ball rolling down the groove in a tree branch carved there by Lan and Henry's long gone half-brothers and half-sisters, but mainly the former. The ball would then fall to the ground 120 meters from Henry and go through one of the basketball hoops and hit a bell. The chiming of that bell would signal to five blindfolded children of Apollo, all older and more experienced than Henry, to fire at a five targets on the tree Lan stood under. When those targets were struck a red flag would fall from the tree, Lan would catch it, and the 16 onlooking children of Apollo and Henry would go nuts.

"Ok, but if you die, it's not my fault," Henry mutters back, barely audible through the static of the old walkie talkie. The young boy then takes a step back, taking aim at the small opening in the tree he was expected to send an arrow through, even though it's 11:56 PM, at least his eyes has adjusted to the dark a little. He then raises his bow and nocks the special-made arrow, before drawing it back and breathing in at the same time. As he exhales he lets the arrow go, into the control of the gods and chance, the laws of physics and chaos. What feels like an hour, but is actually mere seconds, after the arrow has departed from Henry's bow it passes through the hole. Henry cheers and by the time Lan registers the noise the first target has been struck by the arrow and the ball had begun to roll.

"Way to go kid! I knew you could do it!" Lan shouts encouragingly as Henry and the children of Apollo watching from the windows of the house go wild. In the noise of the cheers one of the blindfolded archers hears something like the chiming of a bell, while in reality it is Lan's keys clinking together. This causes them to launch their arrow through the air, striking their respective target. However, a second after they release there arrow and the actual bell chimes they jump in surprise and bump the archer next to them, causing that archer to send their arrow slightly to the left into a rotting tree branch. This branch then breaks off and plummets towards the earth before making contact with not the cold, damp earth but the fused bones of Lan's skull. Knocked down by the branch, which has shattered into smaller pieces, he releases a brief cry of pain before slipping into an unconscious state brought on by the unfortunate end to a glorious stunt.

---

The following morning Lan is resting in his bed underneath a fleece blanket with a cow on it; he received this as a gag gift from his siblings on his birthdays: cows were his least favorite animal due to his lactose intolerance. His hair is wet his hair as the ice packs his siblings used to dampened it, leaving a small spot on his pillow too. Finally the sun shifts into a position where it shines directly onto his face, waking him up and scalding his eyes at the same time.

"Hey Lan are you awake yet?!" One of his sisters yells at him from the living room of the house. "Your phone is ringing again and you have four-wait five messages from Erin now!"

"I'm coming!" Lan says as he jumps out of bed, throwing a pair of jeans and scrambling around his room to find his blue "Olympus Rocks!" shirt. The small space isn't necessarily dirty, but the piles of books, sheets of paper covered in strategies, and the overwhelming need for there to be an air freshener would lead any rational minded person to chastise Lan for the madness of his room. Yet there is a subtle order to everything: the books are all piled in alphabetical order from bottom to top and the papers are organized by date. There was really no excuse for the smell, but Lan was the only frequent guest of the room and he didn't care. Finally he locates the shirt underneath a pile of sweatpants in his bottom drawer and starts to pull it over his head as he flies out of his room and down the stairs.

Before he can even reach the bottom step his phone hits him the chest, but he manages to catch it before it falls to the ground and the screen breaks. His sister, or maybe one of his brothers, had launched it at him from across the room, and this would have irritated him except children of Apollo all have exceptional aim, so he wasn't worried for a second that he could've been missed. Erin has already left a sixth message on his phone so he starts from the beginning, the smile leaving his face as he learns about his missing sibling.

"Hey Lan, Anthony Hoffman is coming to see you, he looks worried," a passing camper says after all the messages have been listened to.

"Alright," Lan replies with a slightly grim tone. He makes his way for outside and exits the Apollo house as Anthony nears the front porch. "Hello Anthony!" He says with as much cheer as he can muster, "I'm assuming you're here about Sammy and/or that demigod Erin wants us to find? I would've found you earlier but I was...incapacitated."

[Ontorisa]

The Greek Hamlet of Olympus
United States of America
May 4th 2016

"Hello Anthony!" He says with as much cheer as he can muster, "I'm assuming you're here about Sammy and/or that demigod Erin wants us to find? I would've found you earlier but I was...incapacitated."

"Yeah," Anthony grinned, his spirits being lifted briefly. "They're talking about it down at the Mess Hall. 'Hey did you hear? Lan got knocked out by a rookie'. Might want to hang low for a bit."

As soon as he got closer, Anthony's grin faded, and his strategic mind set in. Lan, of course, was one of this closest friends, despite not being in the same House. Whether if it was slaying monsters, hazing the occasional rookie or unsuspecting veteran (like dumping a pile of Ares House dirty laundry on Erin) or just being great friends, Anthony had always been grateful for the Son of Apollo's help in both his daring quests and dumbest ideas.

"So, it's more about that demigod in NYC." Anthony explained, bringing up the same notes he had shown Alessandra earlier. "I'm sure you know a bit about him already: untapped potential, maybe one of the strongest in North America, rumours that his godly parent isn't even an Olympian, kai ta loipa*. We're going in to take him by either force or by convincing him to come peacefully. The Council's super worried about an attack on him, so we have to get in there ASAP. Anyways, Erin had me pinned on running a retrieval group for him, so I have to get one together. Care to come? Be like old times eh?"

As Anthony spoke, a couple of demigods passed by, chatting away softly about topics Anthony didn't really care about. They appeared to be coming from the Anagnorismenis, so they were probably a bunch of Minor Gods & Goddess' kids. One of them waved to Anthony, meeting his gaze. Quickly, Anthony smiled and waved back, but silently willed them to keep walking to whatever destination they had in mind.

---

*Kai Ta Loipa is the Greek version of et cetera and means "and the remainder"

[Soviet Chernarus]

The Greek Hamlet of Olympus
United States of America
May 4th 2016

Alexander opened his eyes sleepily, as the rays of sunlight filtered through his window. A new day. Grabbing his phone, which he always put on the floor beside his bed, to check the time, he sat up, still feeling rather drowsy. He glanced at the state of his room. It was messy - he never really bothered cleaning it up. A small wooden bookcase sat in the corner, but a half-opened book, showcasing various chants in both Greek and Latin, lay just a few feet away. He had hastily scribbled notes in the margins. Next to the bookcase, was another metal case, made specifically to hold his treasured staff. The staff had been a gift from his mother, Hecate. Alexander's room was located in the Hecate section of the Anagnorismenis, as they all called it; the massive building housed the children of the minor gods and goddesses.

Getting up off his bed, he went to dress up. Alexander didn't care what he wore, as long as it was comfortable. A casual short-sleeved shirt, along with some jeans, was usually enough for him. Leaving his room, he noticed that most of his siblings were already gone. Alexander greeted one of the stragglers - while he had never really had any real friends before he arrived at Olympus, he found them among his brothers and sisters, who welcomed him. Making his way towards the Mess Hall, Alexander found that it was a good way to begin the day with a nice breakfast, before going off to train or whatnot. He lead a relatively uneventful schedule, and spent much of his time training, although he was occasionally pulled for sentry or patrol duty or some other menial task. He rarely minded, of course - Alexander wasn't the type to complain or question his superiors.

As he walked outside, he was greeted by the fresh morning air. A number of demigods were up and about, but he assumed the majority had gone to the Mess Hall to eat. Having been at Olympus for a little over a year, it felt good - for once - to feel that you actually belonged somewhere.

[The Greater States of Valyria]

Lan nods along as Anthony goes through the details about the demigod in NYC. This was a big deal, especially with the potential disaster looming between the two camps since the Romans had the possibility of being blamed for Sammy and her crew's disappearance. This was a time where securing any demigods, especially powerful ones, in order to fortify Olympus and the entire Greek dominion. Something felt wrong, something dark was coming, this feeling being brought on by the cryptic words of the Oracle and the gigantic mystery behind the likely deaths of five of the Greek's most skilled demigods.

This train of thought brought an overwhelming sadness over Lan. The death of any demigod stung, let alone five which felt like a knife in the side. Take that knife and plunge it into one's side again and again is how Lan felt about losing Sammy. She was one of his closest friends. The two of them arrived at camp six months apart and had never been too far apart physically, emotionally, or psychologically since then. Lan's second quest and Sammy's first had them hunting down a pack of hell hounds that were terrorizing supply chains traveling between the hamlets of Olympus and Alamniokos. It was a brutal experience for the both of them, one of the demigods they left Olympus with never came back. When Jason, the previous head of the Apollo group, had left for law school last August Sammy was the most serious competition Lan faced for the position, yet she did not protest at all when he was made leader, just as he wouldn't have if she had beaten him out.

"Anthony, I would love to come with you, you know I would follow you anywhere, but Sammy Beauguard is dead," Lan choked up as he says this, holding back tears but knowing it's necessary to face the truth. He takes a deep breath before starting again, "Sammy Beauguard is dead. I can't leave my siblings, my family, right now. They need me here to support them. I'm sorry, old friend, but you'll have to do this without me."

[Ontorisa]

Near Olympus
United States of America
May 4th 2016

Lelantos had been nice enough to transform back into James Zuckerson, the same young kid that Sammy had set out with a week or two ago. The apparent Son of Nemesis held his right hand on the wheel of the silver Ford pick-up truck. Right after he had let go of Sammy, she had fallen unconscious. When she had woken up however, they were halfway into Memphis. The Titan had the courtesy to bury her friends in the ground, and told her that if she wanted to stay alive she had to follow his lead. They had been ambushed by the Manticore at the ruins, and that there was little point in exploring them.

However, Sammy knew what this had meant. The ruins that the small party had discovered, was the restoration grounds of Kronos, the King of the Titans and Lord of Time. Right now, she was silently debating with herself whether to save herself, or to warn the others and die a hero, and lead the Greeks into a war they could not win on their own. The Medallion glowed a tiny bit, a shade of teal emanating from around it.

"Do you know what that means?" Lelantos asked her, his voice a few pitches higher, back in the character of James Zuckerson. "It means that the Medallion is picking up on your surroundings, mainly verbally."

"So it's like a voice recorder?" Sammy looked down at it, holding the small medallion in her hand.

"Bingo." Lelantos said, then cursed in Ancient Greek. "I hate these new mortal sayings. But yes, it's like a voice recorder that can record anything."

The entire drive had been like this. No conversation, just Lelantos asking Sammy if she knew what she was doing, how certain things worked or simply threatening her to stick to his plan or else. Just Titan things it seemed like, since they appeared to be incapable of holding a conversation about the simplest of topics. Then again, Lelantos had just killed three demigods without breaking a sweat, it appeared.

The pick-up truck pulled into a small dirt road, flanked by a thick layer of forested area. Ferns, various species of trees and wildlife were the only things that Sammy saw for the first few minutes. Then she spotted a patrol of armoured demigods, walking in the woods. As the pick-up neared, they ducked, before wheeling about and looking backwards. Instantly, one of them took off their helmets and ran towards the truck. Lelantos nodded to Sammy, he would allow her this one moment of joy it appeared.

She leapt out of the truck, clutching her wrist.

"Beauguarrrd!" The demigod screamed, hugging Sammy. "You're alive! Holy hells!"

"Yeah, I'm alive." Sammy managed a weak smile while keeping her eyes on Lelantos.

Remember your mission. Lelantos' eyes said, as he watched the patrol crowd around Sammy, asking a multitude of questions.

"Did you kill anything?" "Was it successful?" "Did you meet my Aunt Merdith in Kentucky?" and then the inevitable "Where's Toby?". As soon as that question was asked, the mood shifted and became much more sombre. Sammy sniffed as she remembered Lelantos cutting Toby down as if he was nothing.

"We were ambushed.." Sammy trailed off, feeling Lelantos' eyes bore into the back of her head. "By the Manticore."

"The... what?" One of the demigods asked, visibly shocked at the statement. "The.. Manticore?"

"Yeah, that shit bucket." Sammy sniffed and shook her head. "Listen, could we talk about this later? I gotta get back. I gotta sleep, I gotta eat, I have to report in and stuff."

"Y-Y-Yeah, for sure Sammy, see you later." The helmetless demigod murmured, in shock at the information he had just processed.

As Sammy got back into the pick-up, she watched the patrol leave, before Lelantos spoke up. His voice was deep, sounding like thunder and bricks falling on top of one another. It was Lelantos' voice, not James Zuckerson's.

"Good job." Lelantos muttered reluctantly. "Keep this up and I'll make sure you have your own private island in Our King's new world."

---

The Greek Hamlet of Olympus
United States of America
May 4th 2016

"Anthony, I would love to come with you, you know I would follow you anywhere, but Sammy Beauguard is dead,"... "Sammy Beauguard is dead. I can't leave my siblings, my family, right now. They need me here to support them. I'm sorry, old friend, but you'll have to do this without me."

Anthony's eyes bored into Lan's, who was this guy? This wasn't the guy that Anthony had met on his first quest. This wasn't Mr. Upbeat-24-Hours-7-Days-A-Week. Shaking his head no, Anthony didn't want to believe it. Samantha Richards Pascal Beauguard was not dead, no way, she was too stubborn and too proud to die. Gripping Anthony and facing him face-to-face, Anthony slightly shook him.

"Listen man, she's not dead." Anthony tried to convince both himself and Lan about Sammy. "She's the one who stared down a Hell Hound and charged it. She's the one who decided it would be funny to hide all of Jason's textbooks across Olympus and in New York. She's the one who kicked my ass in swordfighting. No in hell's way does she die on some small quest, investigating something in Texas. Not her, that's not her."

And then, Anthony's phone rang. It was the ringtone he only reserved for Erin McKenzie. Either something had popped up or Erin was about to tell Anthony that she had a new job for him. He took out his phone and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Holy shit where the fuck are you?" Erin gasped on the other end. "Sammy and James are back. Get your ass over at my office and tell Lan to get his ass over as well."

The line went dead as Anthony put the phone away.

"Sammy's back." Anthony spoke to Lan, hopefully cheering him up. "She's in Erin's office right now with James."

[Ism]

The Greek Hamlet of Olympus
United States of America
May 4th 2016

Adrian walked through the Anagnorismenis, or the "Minor Mansion" as its denizens had taken to calling it, having just left his room. Like most in the Minor Mansion, it was comfortable if small. His personal touches to the room were few, some posters, his laptop and a dozen or so books.

He was greeted by a few people on his way, to whom he quickly responded politely before moving on. A minute later and he was in the common room, a place full of energy and people. Adrian did not much like it, but his friends were less picky.

"Adrian, over here!"
Adrian turned to see his friend Dawn waving him over. She, Victor and Drew were sitting, thankfully, in the northwest corner, which was the quietest part of the room. Adrian signaled Dawn that he saw them and sat down with them.
"Well Adrian, how does it feel, waking up after Drew?" Dawn teased.
"Oh it wounds me deeply. I think I'd die of embarrassment, except that he's managed to fall asleep on one of these godsawful chairs. Much more embarrassing if you ask me."

Dawn turned to see that, indeed, Drew had fallen asleep with his eyes wide open. "Wha- Damnit Victor, I told you to make sure he stayed up. Now he's going to be moody when we wake him."
"After the third time I woke him up and he fell back asleep, I gave up. Sometimes you just can't win."
Dawn shot him a glare before shaking Drew awake, a fact that Drew was not at all pleased by.
"Ugh, what time is it?" Drew asked, blinking as he drowsily sat up.
"It's nearly twelve o'clock Drew." Victor answered.
"Twelve? *yawn* I guess I'll have to add another hour onto my nap later. Thanks."
"I feel your pain Drew. Say, you guys want to get lunch?"Adrian asked.

A short while later Adrian and his friends reached the mess hall, though they entered only after watching the incident with Alessandra and Cody. They quickly got their food and sat down, cherishing their freetime, with all of them having duties to attend to soon.

[The Greater States of Valyria]

Lan looks at Anthony skeptically as he goes on about Sammy. She had to be dead, something felt off, even though the quest was minor they had been gone far too long. He knew how skilled Sammy was but inside he knew she was gone.

Yet when Anthony's answers his phone and Lan can hear Erin's voice faintly saying "Sammy" and "James" his insides start to feel brighter, like a ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds despite a forecast for rain. So when the phone call ends and Anthony relays the fantastic news to Lan his heart shoots up into the stars.

"No way! I'm so sorry for being so grim! Holy shit! Thank the gods!" Lan says while jumping around like a little kid in Christmas. He then quickly collects himself by taking several deep breaths before pulling Anthony into a quick hug. This ends quickly though as Lan has started sprinting towards Erin's office. Vaulting over every obstacle and narrowly dodging every confused camper he passes Lan can't remember moving this quickly since the quest that Anthony mentioned where Sammy stared down a hellhound. Completely his journey he launches himself through the door into Erin's office.

"Sammy!" He says seeing her, pulling her into a hug before moving on to James.

[SaintB]

Yeshe (Adam Sanders)
Metropolitan Hospital, New York New York
USA

I wasn't even sure what the time was anymore. Scientists say that a full moon doesn't have an impact on how people and animals behave but I say that they need to spend 16 hours in an ER during the full moon and then fuck off. People go nuts and I don't care what evidence they try to provide; there may not be a noticeable difference in the amount of cases in the ER but they are certainly crazier. Two guys supposed to be best friends got into a fight over what brand of beer was better. During the 'altercation' the first friend gouged his buddy's eyeball out and in retaliation the other guy chewed his nose right off. An EMT tried to keep the second man from swallowing his buddy's nose and nearly lost his own fingers to the man's mean mandible... and that was before the sun went down!

Then there was the woman who took the phrase 'eat my ass with a spoon' to its literal extreme and lodged not one but two stainless steel tablespoons in her paramour's anus. The Japanese guy who swallowed an octopus raw; the octopus took offense to that and latched on to his esophagus with its hooked suckers before it died ("I sweal it nevel happened befol"). Oh yeah, and the the teenage girl who cut a chunk out of her own leg because she didn't have a thigh gap!

You know... for a demigod who feels compelled to help people I certainly don't like them very much most of the time. Strange ain't it? I was finally for the first time since arriving sitting down for a cold Pepsi and a salad made just like I want it, with bacon, and popcorn chicken, and so much cheese you'd have to starve 100 calves to get the milk for it, oh yeah and cucumbers and red onions and 'healthy' shit like that too (and just a dab of ranch dressing, you know like a half bottle or so).

"You look like shit today Adam."

I looked up from my rabbit food and gave my co-worker Sue a half smile as I chewed. I think a piece lettuce fell from my lip and back into the salad but I did not care if I looked like a cow in the alfalfa patch right now. I was tired and fuckin' starving. "You're not exactly the freshest rose yourself Susan." I said as I rubbed my cheek to indicate the spot on her own face where she had three stitches.

I wasn't being impolite, this is how a lot of people talk to their friends. Susan frowned absently as she sat across from me and poured coffee into the lid of her thermos, "Oh that? Its nothing. Some strung out housewife with her wedding ring cut my face."

I adored Susan, I really did. She was the sweetest woman in the ER but she was also a horrible lying adulterer, not that I held it against her because we all have our sins. I saw it all happening as she tried to explain it away... Dr. "Stormin" Norman (I'd grant a wish to anyone who could introduce me to a man named Norman who wasn't called Norm or Storming) had punched her in the face before her shift because she asked him when he was going to leave his wife. The cut was from his ring. Tonight he would come to her apartment with a dozen Roses, some chocolate, a bottle of expensive seeming wine and reservations at half decent steakhouse. And poor naive Susan Brown from a small white trash town in the midwest where $15 dollar rib-eye steaks were a fancy meal would come rushing back into his arms again, believing in love and all of that. Then he would knock her around again, and knock her up, and dump her to the curb - him and his filthy tramp of a wife would deny any involvement in her pregnancy and she would go home and slit her wrists and survive but lose the baby and never ever ever leave her parent's house again.

Poor Susan. I almost started to cry but I managed to hold myself back, "Yeah." I sniffed and blinked, "That happens sometimes in this line of work."

"You ok?"

"Its a really strong onion..." I coughed and blinked back a few more tears and then pushed the salad away, I wasn't hungry anymore after my vision.

"Really Adam? It doesn't smell strong." she said looking concerned.

"It tastes it though." I lied.

I made a show of checking my phone, "OH look at the time. I gotta get back out there. 4 more hours and I can take these scrubs and crocks off and go home. Get some sleep." I said whimsically, and then against my better judgement before I could even think or react, "You can do better than Norman honey."

"Say what?"

I cleared my throat, "Say hi to Dr. Norman for me." I forced a sincere looking smile and trotted off, leaving the salad unattended.

"Ok Adam. Bye-bye."

"Buh-bye Sue."

I saw that the Yankees were down to the Royals by a whole 11 runs; a sports riot was just what I needed on the final leg of my shift...

[Ontorisa]

The Greek Hamlet of Olympus
United States of America
May 4th 2016

Anthony tried to follow the rapidly moving Lan through fellow demigods, a couple of obstacles here and there and maybe a car or two. However, once he reached the Main Hall, opened up the door and rushed up to Erin's office, he opened it to find Lan hugging Sammy Beauguard, who looked visibly tired and physically hurt. He noticed that James refused Lan's hug, but ended up getting hugged anyways. She looked over at Anthony after Lan detached himself and smiled at him.

"Hey Hoffy." Sammy almost sprinted over and hugged him before letting go.

"Hey Beauie." Anthony replied before looking around. "Where's uh, Toby and them?"

Immediately, Anthony could tell something was wrong, with both Sammy and James shuffling nervously before James finally spoke up after some time.

"They... didn't make it." James' voice was almost a whisper as Anthony's heart sank. "We were ambushed at the site by the Manticore."

"Oh Gods." Erin managed as she appeared to be shaken by the news. "Oh shit, oh fuck, oh shit. How the hell was the Manticore there? Why didn't we see this coming?"

"We tried fighting it, but it got Keith and then-" James started, his voice incredibly weak before Erin waved her hand, telling him to stop.

"I don't want to hear it. I don't think anyone wants to hear it." Erin sighed before she looked up from her desk, her eyes red from either crying, a lack of sleep, stress, looking at a bunch of screens or all of the above. "Did you at least figure out what those ruins were? Derek's been saying they're incredibly important for an upcoming war."

"No, but I swore I saw a few Roman flags at the ruins though." James spoke softly, remembering each detail as well as he could. "You don't think-"

"Those fucking-" Erin started before she held her hands up. "Those methusai are definitely involved. Knowing any Romani scum, they're always involved in our hardships."

"Erin, come on." Anthony quickly perked up after a while. "The Romans aren't dumb enough to infringe on the Truce."

"The TRUCE?!" Erin screamed, erupting like a volcano as she experienced a sudden shift in her mood. "The fucking Truce didn't stop Michael Tremblay from getting eaten by a Hell Hound in the middle of the night near the Mess Hall! The fucking Truce didn't stop a dozen demigods going missing for no reason! And the fucking Truce did not stop the resurfacing of the Gods damned Manticore from killing three of our most veteran demigods!"

"Erin please, this isn't enough grounds for a war with the Romans." Anthony pleaded, trying to calm her down. "You're better than this, you've just been pushed by this event, that's it."

"Anthony." Erin growled, glaring at him. "Get some demigods, and get moving. Go find that fucking demigod."

As Anthony's face dropped into a state of shock, in his peripheral vision, he noticed a sly smile on James' face.

---

Metropolitan Hospital, New York City
United States of America
May 4th 2016

21-year old Casey Landry sat in the waiting room of the Metropolitan Hospital in New York City. The brightly lit, pure white waiting room made him feel like a stain in the middle of the room, with his grimy leather jacket on, a pale blue baseball cap pulled over his head and his worn dark blue jeans caked in dirt. Of course, he had been following a Dracaena for the past few hours once he had picked up on her. Oddly, she had come to this exact hospital for a strange reason, but was definitely focused on someone in particular since she had not detected Casey.

Within Casey's head, it was like a roar of two waves. On one side, it was the sensible, original thinking he had, the Casey who had grown up in Seattle, Washington, who had loved the Seattle Seahawks since birth, who was the son of Apollo and Vanessa Landry, who enjoyed playing a mixture of football and baseball and was pretty okay at the violin. On the other side however, was the roaring voice of the Lord of Time. Bend, Kneel, Obey the voice kept whispering. Oddly, Casey could not disobey the voice and followed most of its orders, despite maintaining control over his body and actions. Disguised as a simple pen, was Casey's only method of defence: a 3-foot long, double-edged Celestial Bronze sword, which he had called Chasity when he was at Olympus.

But now, he served the Lord of Time. He was nothing but a soldier and agent of the Lord, and he would perform his orders. Seek the son of my nephew, Prometheus. You shall find him at a mortal hospital in New York. Yeah, really clear Lord of Time, thanks for that. Of course Casey had spent a good couple of days looking for the hospital in particular before he had found the Dracaena.

The Dracaena was disguised as a 66-year old woman, complete with the walker, 70's clothing and a frail old voice. But Casey knew what she was, she kept her snake tail hidden underneath of an enormous, grey ankle skirt as she finally moved from her seat across from Casey to the front desk.

"E-Excuse me dear," The Dracaena feebly asked the receptionist. "Is there a Dr. Sanders?"

"Do you have an appointment ma'am?" The receptionist looked unamused, leaning back in her chair while filing her nails.

"No." The monster appeared to hiss. "I am a close friend however, I have a message to give to him."

"Ma'am, I can't let you past to see him. He's busy." The receptionist looked up from her nails, sizing the woman up and down before looking back at her nails.

"Please, his mother told me to give it to him."

"Your story's changing by the second. Wow, ever consider writing?"

"You're treating a poor old woman like this?"

The receptionist groaned before she sat up in her chair and brought out a clipboard with a numerous amount of papers on it. She flipped a couple of them before tapping one of the pages and then looked up at the Dracaena.

"ER, Ground Floor thata way." The receptionist pointed with her thumb down a dimly lit, narrow hallway behind her. "You'll find him in the rec hall, he should be on break."

"Thank you." The Dracaena slow shuffled down towards the direction of the hallway.

Casey quickly stood up and walked past reception, and said he was the woman's caretaker before the receptionist could say anything. He followed the Dracaena as she walked past the doors and into the ER wing, where she began her search. With only one or two patients in, the ER wasn't as busy as it usually was. Therefore, the Dracaena had an easier time making it around, Casey keeping his distance before he spotted a tall, skinny man in scrubs walking out of a room, a woman barely visible in the room. The Dracaena make an almost inaudible hiss as she began to pick up speed, slowly moving the walker aside.

Despite there being a large amount of mortals milling about, the Dracaena was just about to risk a conflict that they would definitely see. Quick thinking took over as Casey sped up, and shoved the old woman aside, flinging her onto the ground as he made a B-line towards the doctor.

"Doctor.. erm.." Casey began as he heard the Dracaena curse out loud in Ancient Greek. "Doctor Sanders? I need you to come with me right now. It's an emergency, like, life or death emergency."

Then the Dracaena got up.

[The United Equstrian Front]

Snip

Viktor Albeinheim
A couple of blocks away from Metropolitan Hospital, five stories up
NYC,USA 5/4/16

He never knew how doctors work with so much pain being blasted at them from so many sources, if he was in there he wouldn't be able to leave. He sighed while checking the roof he placed himself on, of was kind of bare excluding his camp and the couple of dead hellhounds that followed him since Toronto. He pulled out his phone and sifted through pictures of Yeshe or Adam as he likes to call himself now,
"You know Yeshe I might not like the way you are hiding from your powers but I understand that sometimes that powers as strong as yours may need to keep hidden. Then again you are very hard to find, at least I had a little help from dad." He shook his head and pocketed the phone and continued his vigilance over the hospital. He tapped the tail of the skateboard causing it to transform into a well maintained bow and quiver and placed the quiver next to his lawn chair, he then knocked an arrow and leaned back waiting for his time.

[The Ik Ka Ek Akai]

The Greek Hamlet of Olympus
United States of America
May 4th 2016

Cody's head popped back up above the water, sputtering and briefly panicking. All around, the various demigods who had helped him push Peter in were now laughing at him, grinning and patting Alessandra's shoulder. It was only in a fun gesture that everyone got pushed into the pond at least once. As the flotation device came flinging in towards Peter, he grabbed it and slowly doggy paddled to shore before getting out, looking at his drenching wet clothes. He made his way to Alessandra and genuinely smiled at her.

"Thanks, that was pretty hilarious." Peter said to Alessandra before making his way back to Athena's Joint to change into dry clothes.

Cody however, was not taking this so well, spewing a stream of curse words, varying from Ancient Greek to English, as he swam to shore. Once he got out, he glared at Alessandra before changing his face to humour for the other demigods, laughing and joking at him. However, Cody's eyes shot darts at Alessandra, as if to say This isn't over in a mischievous way.

Alessandra did not let his glare intimidate her. She'd be leaving soon enough anyways, and she'd already been put through hazing: what more could he do that he had not done already? Very little, she imagined, was the answer to this question, and she made note that going to sleep, the only time she'd be easily vulnerable, she could set up a few defenses or simply lock her door and sleep alone. There were easily a few things she could do to avoid contact with the crude cruelty of her half-sibling, although this was far from priority. She had been informed of a mission, and still had yet to pack anything. While she'd been guaranteed that only a sword would be necessary, Alessandra liked to pack a few extraneous items just in case of a change of events, a situation gone wrong. She'd yet to experience such a thing, but every time she left the hamlet, it was a potential risk that she had to undertake. Better to be overprepared than underprepared.

She headed to her cabin to grab a few things. Her sword, for one, was taken in its shrunken, smaller, and easily concealable form. Taking a simple purse, rather than a backpack, as after all it was expected to be a short excursion into the city rather than any significant hike or quest, she stuffed a change of clothes or two into it as well, putting the sword on top, and lastly taking a small amount of money. It was truly amazing how the smaller bag could hold enough for a short quest without looking particularly out-of-place in the big city. If she had a gas mask, she might've tried to pack it as well: the air of New York City was a bit gross. It smelled like sewage and rotten meat, and overall suffered from the pollution produced by the very dense city. Her lungs would heal quickly enough, as it was but a brief excursion rather than a lifetime commitment, but even still the air had a nasty tinge that she'd rather have avoided if possible.

After packing Alessandra once more went to the outside world and began to loiter around, waiting for the quest to come along and force her into action.

[SaintB]

Metropolitan Hospital, New York City
United States of America
May 4th 2016

21-year old Casey Landry sat in the waiting room of the Metropolitan Hospital in New York City. The brightly lit, pure white waiting room made him feel like a stain in the middle of the room, with his grimy leather jacket on, a pale blue baseball cap pulled over his head and his worn dark blue jeans caked in dirt. Of course, he had been following a Dracaena for the past few hours once he had picked up on her. Oddly, she had come to this exact hospital for a strange reason, but was definitely focused on someone in particular since she had not detected Casey.

Within Casey's head, it was like a roar of two waves. On one side, it was the sensible, original thinking he had, the Casey who had grown up in Seattle, Washington, who had loved the Seattle Seahawks since birth, who was the son of Apollo and Vanessa Landry, who enjoyed playing a mixture of football and baseball and was pretty okay at the violin. On the other side however, was the roaring voice of the Lord of Time. Bend, Kneel, Obey the voice kept whispering. Oddly, Casey could not disobey the voice and followed most of its orders, despite maintaining control over his body and actions. Disguised as a simple pen, was Casey's only method of defence: a 3-foot long, double-edged Celestial Bronze sword, which he had called Chasity when he was at Olympus.

But now, he served the Lord of Time. He was nothing but a soldier and agent of the Lord, and he would perform his orders. Seek the son of my nephew, Prometheus. You shall find him at a mortal hospital in New York. Yeah, really clear Lord of Time, thanks for that. Of course Casey had spent a good couple of days looking for the hospital in particular before he had found the Dracaena.

The Dracaena was disguised as a 66-year old woman, complete with the walker, 70's clothing and a frail old voice. But Casey knew what she was, she kept her snake tail hidden underneath of an enormous, grey ankle skirt as she finally moved from her seat across from Casey to the front desk.

"E-Excuse me dear," The Dracaena feebly asked the receptionist. "Is there a Dr. Sanders?"

"Do you have an appointment ma'am?" The receptionist looked unamused, leaning back in her chair while filing her nails.

"No." The monster appeared to hiss. "I am a close friend however, I have a message to give to him."

"Ma'am, I can't let you past to see him. He's busy." The receptionist looked up from her nails, sizing the woman up and down before looking back at her nails.

"Please, his mother told me to give it to him."

"Your story's changing by the second. Wow, ever consider writing?"

"You're treating a poor old woman like this?"

The receptionist groaned before she sat up in her chair and brought out a clipboard with a numerous amount of papers on it. She flipped a couple of them before tapping one of the pages and then looked up at the Dracaena.

"ER, Ground Floor thata way." The receptionist pointed with her thumb down a dimly lit, narrow hallway behind her. "You'll find him in the rec hall, he should be on break."

"Thank you." The Dracaena slow shuffled down towards the direction of the hallway.

Casey quickly stood up and walked past reception, and said he was the woman's caretaker before the receptionist could say anything. He followed the Dracaena as she walked past the doors and into the ER wing, where she began her search. With only one or two patients in, the ER wasn't as busy as it usually was. Therefore, the Dracaena had an easier time making it around, Casey keeping his distance before he spotted a tall, skinny man in scrubs walking out of a room, a woman barely visible in the room. The Dracaena make an almost inaudible hiss as she began to pick up speed, slowly moving the walker aside.

Despite there being a large amount of mortals milling about, the Dracaena was just about to risk a conflict that they would definitely see. Quick thinking took over as Casey sped up, and shoved the old woman aside, flinging her onto the ground as he made a B-line towards the doctor.

"Doctor.. erm.." Casey began as he heard the Dracaena curse out loud in Ancient Greek. "Doctor Sanders? I need you to come with me right now. It's an emergency, like, life or death emergency."

Then the Dracaena got up.

Doctor Adam Sanders (Yeshe)
Metropolitan Hospital, New York City
United States of America
May 4th 2016

FML. Like seriously. It had to be the full moon, there was another demigod and a fucking Dracaena in the damn hospital and both of them wanted a piece of me. One to chew on, and the other wanted to talk or something... I didn't really know but he wasn't hostile towards me yet and that was all that mattered right now. I grabbed the other immortal by the arm and dragged him down the hallway as the monster got up, "Yes sir your aunt is over this way!"

I half shouted have tried to get him to realize I (sorta) had a plan in the works already. They caught on pretty quick so they must not have been a child of Ares/Mars (those guys are meatheads, they make up like half of the Marine Corps I shit you not) and eventually followed me on their own power to one of the rooms where we keep an emergency stash of the good stuff like blood, morphine, and flunitrazepam, I was only an intern so I didn't have my own passcode but I had been given one on several occasions by the on call physician Dr. Wesly Stormin' Norman. I quickly punched it into the keypad (4,3,2,1) then opened the heavy steal door and rushed inside, the other demigod in tow.

The room was probably about twice the size of a janitors closet with lots of shelves and a refrigeration unit full of blood and blood plasma for transplants. "What is this room?" the other guy asked.

"Where we keep the good stuff."

"What good stuff."

I actually paused to look at him for a second, "The kind of good stuff you can only get in an emergency room!"

A thunk against the heavy door jarred me out of my annoyance and pushed us both into action, "Look for class vials marked Flunitrazepam solution. Its a sedative, a really good one."

I opened a cupboard wherein was contained the 'sharps', empty syringes with needles for injecting patients with everything short of adrenaline and began to pull open their plastic packages.

"Found it!" the other demigod proclaimed and brought me a vial - he seemed to understand what was going on.

I motioned for him to get me a second one and started to fill the first... how much Flunitrazepam would I need for a snake woman thing? Fuck it. I just filled the whole damn thing full of solution, about 10 milligrams of potent dope filled the needle as I emptied the container and tossed it into the garbage. I did the same with the second one and when I received a quizzical look I shrugged, "Just in case. I've never actually tried this on a nonhuman before."

The other immortal nodded at me as the now angry Dracaena banged on the steel door again, it shook and a hinge popped but the barrier held up still. I whispered to my 'ally' "You open the door and when it reaches in I'll inject it! It should only take about 30 seconds for this shit to kick in. Ready?"

They nodded and grabbed the door handle...

"On three." I said.

"On the count of three or after three?"

"On the count of, nobody does 1,2,3, go! It's 1,2, go!"

"OK... 1... 2..."

The other demigod pushed the door open and into the Dracaena which caused it to stagger back some and then I leaped into action. I may not be a warrior but I am still half titan damnit, I can move pretty fast. I stabbed the needle into the 'old lady's' neck and pressed the plunger down before ducking further into the hallway. The other Demigod body checked the monster who seemed pretty confused by what was happening. It made a feeble attempt to grab at my comrade but was soon slithering (staggering?) about erratically and loosing control of its muscles as the sedative took effect and then it fell to the floor and lost consciousness.

"I can't believe that worked!" I exclaimed.

"How do you know that it did?" the other Demigod asked as I came up near him.

"Well... it isn't moving. You armed? I don't have any weapons here. Check on it, make sure its actually out cold, if not I got another big dose ready for that acid spitting granny."

"And what about me?" he asked.

"You have a weapon!" I whisper shouted at him, wondering how the hell we hadn't attracted all the hospital staff's attention yet.

He cautiously approached the dracaena and pulled a pen out of his pocket. I'm not stupid, I knew that the pen must have been some kind of enchanted weapon, and then tapped it with his foot. When there was no reaction he kicked it. "Looks like she's... what the hell?"

He covered the left side of his neck and turned to me, his eyes were already glazing over as he stood there dumbfounded, "What?"

"It's called Flunitrazepam. You might know it better by Ruhypnol, that's kind of its street/brand name."

He started to collapse to the floor but I guided him over to a nearby bench, "I roofied you. But you're a big strong demigod so you'll be fine in say... 10 minutes? I only gave you half the dose I did her. Sweet dreams."

---

It only took me about five minutes to get into street clothes, I just tossed my scrubs back into my locker and headed for the lobby, "Denise! I have to go... there was um... a fire at my apartment building and the fire chief wants me to identify my neighbor's cat... its really very sad."

The fucking lamest excuse there ever was but it was something, it got me out of the hospital and toward freedom. I'd have to disappear again now, raid my stash of fake IDs and go to another city. Maybe Seattle? Hell no, I don't want to practice medicine where they film Grey's fucking Anatomy! Boston maybe? Toronto? Wherever I went I'd have to get moving fast before the guy who was hunting me down took offense to being roofied in the hospital and came looking for me again.

[Kaelmar Unionen]

Kkk

[The United Equstrian Front]

Snip

Viktor Albeinheim

He watched the hospital for any sign of monsters or any of the more hostile demigods, he noticed Yeshe hurriedly walking away from the building with his street clothes and looking panicked. He smirked while aiming his arrow at a bus stop roof, he fired and watched the rope trailed after the arrow. After hearing and seeing the arrow thunk into the metal he folded up his lawn chair placed it into his backpack along with a few other things, he pulled out a zip-line harness and connected it to his makeshift travel rope and checked if he was ready. He was and he jumped sliding down the rope to the bus stop, after hitting the ground he tugged the arrow down placed it in his quiver and transformed the skateboard back into it's original state. He took off down the street after the doctor while bobbing weaving through the crowd, he stopped once he was behind the man, he gripped his shoulder and whisper shouted,
"We have to get off the streets follow me." And then proceeded to drag him into a nearby alleyway.

[Ontorisa]

Metropolitan Hospital, New York City
United States of America
May 4th 2016

Casey Landry fucking hated this guy. As he layed on the bench, helplessly watching as the same man he was sent to retrieve for his Lord's cause walked away, he could hear the Dracaena, snapping and hissing, slowly losing its disguise and transforming back into a half woman half snake. It twitched, and slowly started moving. Sure, Flunitrazypasm or whatever the fuck it was called, in large doses could keep a fully grown man unconscious for a huge extended period of time, but the Dracaena was treating it as if it had just taken a quick power nap.

"Demigod!" It exclaimed, looking over its shoulder and making eye contact with the, rather helpless Casey. "Are you ready to die today?"

"Not really, I'm fine." Casey managed as he tried moving his hand.

The cap on his pen was still on, so right now, he was completely defenceless. As the Dracaena continued to try and move, before Casey realized, it was being picked up by a few mortals, who were asking "are you alright ma'am?" "oh my god, what happened?" "hey! We should get her sat up in a room!" "Fluids?". As the Dracaena was carried off, screaming incoherent words, Casey soon found himself able to move his hand. His movements were a lot less sluggish now, and he could feel himself regaining control of his body.

Forgetting about the Dracaena, Casey stood up as best as he could before falling backwards into the bench. He tried again, this time more successful before rushing outside to try and find Dr. Sanders. As he looked around the dimly lit parking lot of the hospital, Casey cursed before opening up his cellphone and dialing in a number. The number he had been told to call if he needed help or assistance with anything during his missions.

"Hello?" A deep voice answered on the other side of the phone.

"Hi, yes. I was told to call this number for the Gryphon's claws. His claws are very sharp and I want to dull them." Casey spoke the key phrase before he heard a sigh on the other end.

"What is it?" The voice answered, growling in mostly annoyance. "I've been getting calls from you demigods all day."

"It is the Lord's bidding." Casey snapped back before he looked around again. "I've lost Dr. Sanders. Dr. Adam Sanders?"

"Ah yes.." The voice appeared to have lightened up a bit. "My son."

[The Greater States of Valyria]

"Anthony." Erin growled, glaring at him. "Get some demigods, and get moving. Go find that fucking demigod."

Lan shivers as Erin's harsh words reverberate down his spinal cord. It wasn't the violence of her outburst that caused so much despair in even the farthest reaches of Lan's body, but the irrationality behind her rage. One of the reasons his leader was so distressed was the fact that so many good demigods had perished recently, but rushing off to war against a formidable enemy without a solid casus belli was just plain foolish. In no way would the spilling of more blood, more good Greek blood, cover up the horrific nature of recent tragedies. Lan couldn't help but think of Henry Yourick, that poor kid. The unlucky bastard had stumbled into camp a few weeks earlier, bloody and broken from three weeks of being chased a vicious group of nymphs irritated the boy wouldn't let them absorb him into the earth. Henry had experienced things that would've made Hades shudder and he had come to Olympus to feel safe and to feel loved. None of Lan's siblings, Henry Yourick chief among them, deserved to be sent off to fight a war motivated by factors that were set in place long before they brought into existence by the flippant behavior of an ancient deity. When Lan thought Sammy was dead, when that darkness set over his heart, Erin's phone call to Anthony had briefly parted the clouds, but the ominous nature of this meeting signaled something far graver on the horizon.

Erin's harsh treatment of Anthony, her snapping and him at her utter disregard for his wise opinion, made Lan's mouth go dry. Anthony was one of the smartest demigods he had ever met, probably one of the smartest demigods since the Truce was first created. Erin knew that too, there was so much people knew to be true that they seemed to deny for some unknown reason. One thing that Lan did know was that giving his leader some time to cool off was necessary. She needed some distance between herself and recency of the perceived Roman attacks before realizing there was a much more rational approach to the situation. At least Lan hoped she would realize this. As of now what was important is complete the quest Erin has assigned to Anthony, an important quest at any time, especially when one has an upset authority figure telling you to do it.

"I'll come along, Anthony, what do you say? It'll be like old times! The old A.L. team! This shouldn't even be that hard. It's just one demigod in New York City, what's the worst thing that could happen!" Lan says cheerfully, trying to hide his inner dismay, especially in front of Sammy, who seems to be extremely distressed. He even knocks on Erin's desk to dispel any negative connotations around the quest.