¹𝗠𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗗 ― Annabeth Chase

―interlude, glorified meat shield

"Oh-kay, new rule!" Silena declared, raising her voice at the words 'new rule', pointing a perfectly manicured finger up into the air, "No swearing for kids under... twelve!"

"I'm twelve," Barbie said, unimpressed.

"New, new rule! No swearing for kids under thirteen!" She said, correcting herself.

"That's stupid," whined another one of Barbie's siblings, "And totally unfair- Jamie is one month older than me, and he gets to swear?"

"I'm not against this new rule," Jamie replied, shrugging innocently as his mop of purple hair shook about.

"Well-"

More younger Aphrodite kids began to speak up, expressing their opinion rather loudly until Barbie couldn't actually hear who was saying what- all she could hear was a garble of words sounding vaguely outraged, angry, or amused.

"OK! NEW RULE!" Silena called, "Barbie-"

"Barb."

"Thank you, Barb. Yes- new rule! Barb can't swear." 

Nobody disagreed with that.

"Hey- what the hell?"

Well, except Barbie.

"Sorry, Barb. I make the rules."

"You're stupid," she grumbled in reply, huffing and marching over to her bed. "I hate this stupid cabin- you're all dumb!"

"Stupid is technically a swear word, Barb." Val reminded her, sitting beside her on her bed.

A thump was heard a second later, and Val was laughing on the floor.

Dinner was no better than anything that happened in the morning- if anything it was worse. Why, you ask?

Capture the Flag, the best game to exist. 

It was essentially like normal Capture the Flag- but the demigod version involved actual battle tactics, swords- and acted like a training exercise covered in a game. It was possibly the best part about being at camp and was the thing that kept Barbie entertained the most. People would laugh at her when she said that usually- assuming she'd opt for arts and crafts (which she did love) or pegasi riding (which, again, she did adore deeply)- but Barbie always came back to the precise conclusion that there was something so exciting about Capture the Flag.

There was this exhilarating feel to the whole evening when they played- the fact they had to strike and they had to run- and nothing was better than being a runner, or a scout into the opposing teams territory. Besides, Capture the Flag was a time for cleaning her armour- and Barbie made hers shine. She'd worked closely with the Hephaestus kids (mostly Charles Beckendorf because he had a soft spot for her and had the fattest crush on Silena ever to exist) to make it exactly in her vision.

The armoured chestpiece was a gorgeous gold, etched with swirling clouds- portraying a summer's day with a shining sun and gorgeous grass with enough heart motifs to make some art critics wet themselves with glee. It was her pride and joy- and she cleaned it every night before the event, finding something so deeply therapeutic about the upkeep of it.

That being said- right now, Capture the Flag left a bitter taste in Barbie's mouth.

Kitchen duties, desert privileges and camp activities were being used as bartering tools left right and centre with most cabins. The Apollo cabin was still receiving high bids from both the Blue team (the Athena Cabin being the chief of the team this time) and the Red team (ran by the Ares Cabin). So far- the most pleasant bribe must've been a whole day of archery and two months of desert privileges from the Ares Cabin- but Clarisse always made her bribes sound like a threat.