ᴾʰᵒᵇᵒᵖʰᵒᵇⁱᵃ [ᴶᵃˢᵒⁿ ᴳʳᵃᶜᵉ]

θ.

"Apollo's cabin," Aza said, nodding her head forward as a signal for Piper to continue walking so they could catch up to Annabeth, who had gained a considerable lead. "They love showing off with their aim - all missile weapons go straight towards their target. Y'know, arrows, basketballs, ping-pong balls, any ball, really. Rule two of being a demigod, never play sports with the Apollo kids. They're sore winners and, when they very rarely lose, very sore losers."

Piper nodded, her thin braids bouncing slightly. As she and Aza increased their speed to try to get closer to Annabeth. She took her eyes off the group of Apollo children only as they passed Sherman And and Ellis Wakefield hacking at each other with a vengence; both were fighting to wound, and it seemed that if one managed to land a hit it would cause the other to bleed out. However, Aza knew neither would be able to land a bad hit; they were both wicked good with a sword, and were evenly matched. Aza chuckled under her breath as Sherman got lucky and managed to slam his Celestial Bronze sword down upon Ellis' sheld, sending it spiraling out of his hand and slammed into the dirt. Whilst Aza never had the best hearing, she was able to hear Sherman faintly tasting him ("That's what you get for saying chicken is better than steak, you coward!"). Aza rolled her eyes, chuckling lightly at the reasons people in the Ares cabin got into fights, but she wasn't the least bit surprised. As Piper gasped at a particularly wicked punch sent by Ellis, Aza called out, "Hey, Ellis! You gonna let him talk to you like that? You show Sherman who's boss!"

The two sons of Ares turned to Aza, both glaring with a fiery temper that would make their father proud and would make any sensible person turn and run in the opposite direction. Sherman's mouth opened and he snapped, "Shut up, Malin, or fight me!" Aza glared back, lifting her head and clenching her jaw in a defiant manner; she quirked her left brow and pursed her lips. "Gladly, Yang! I'll kick your ass with my eyes closed."

"Yeah, you do that, little niece," Sherman yelled back with a roll of his deep blue eyes, giving her a rather unkind finger. Aza stuck her tongue out in return, shaking her head slightly and turning back to Piper, who looked appalled and greatly scared. Annabeth appeared next to them and chuckled lightly at Piper's expression. "Aza's father, is Ares' sson, so Aza and the Ares have a..." Annabeth trailed off, unsure of how to finish - it was a rather complex relationship after all. So, Aza filled in, "We have a special relationship. They're my aunts and uncles, and when I'm around them my more aggressive side shines through. Ares is my grandfather, after all, and his genes are pretty strong."

"Uh-huh," Piper nodded, but Aza could clearly see they had confused the girl. She understood; the first day of learning your true heritage led to a lot of necessary adjustments, and it would feel incredibly overwhelming for her for quite some time. Instead of processing the complex relationship of demigods, Piper pointed towards the blades that Ellis and Sherman were using to hack at each other and asked, "Are those real blades like the ones you used to scare off the venti? Isn't that dangerous?"

Annabeth nodded. "That's sort of the point." Aza snickered under her breath, nudging Annabeth's arm and asking, "Pun intended?"

Annabeth frowned, thinking for a moment. "Yeah, pun intended. But bad pun aside, there's my cabin over there. Number six." She nodded towards a grey cabin, with a carved owl over the door. From her countless times visiting Annabeth, Aza had practically memorized the inside. The Athena cabin was decked out - their walls were lined with bookshelves that were crammed to the absolute brim with books (each child got one bookshelf for themselves and there were several communal ones as well), weapon displays (meticulously organized, of course), and even a SMART board that schools used. Aza craned her neck to see two girls, though she couldn't identify them, drawing a map that appeared to be a battle diagram, but Aza could've sworn it was drawn over Middle-Earth (the Athena kids had a tendency to create battle plans for fictional or hypothetical battles).