INTERLUDE. ' glorified meat shields '
WHEN BARBIE heard about the 'Bathroom incident' (as it was being called) where Percy Jackson somehow managed to blow up a bathroom- it gave her too much ammunition to work with. She laughed, actually, loud and clear in the pavilion at the news- imagining a sopping wet Percy Jackson covered in sewage water and other disgusting things.
Instead, she was greeted with the sight of Percy Jackson perfectly dry and Annabeth soaked to the bone from the window of the Aphrodite Cabin. They'd looked to have finished their tour, with Percy Jackson looking apologetic- rapidly speaking and moving his hands. Harlow, who looked down distastefully at her wet jeans glared back up at Percy- whilst Annabeth seemed to look monotonous, saying something before she walked away. Seconds later, after what Barbie guessed was a crushing blow to Percy's ego from Harlow- the daughter of Apollo stalked away as well.
Well, she didn't exactly get to see Percy humiliated but a brutal blow to the ego could certainly satisfy her for a short period.
"Stop creeping on the new boy, Barbie," Silena called from across the room. "I heard he blows up misbehaving little kids with spouts of toilet water."
"It's BARB, Silena," Barbie grumbled, arms crossed- red hair flying embarrassingly into her mouth. "And I'm not creeping on him- he's lame. He's... he's annoying and mean- and his clothes look like shit. His fashion sense is tragic!"
"Damn," muttered Silena, walking over to Barbie- hair flowing effortlessly and pretty. She had the type of hair most people envied. Then again, everybody in the Aphrodite Cabin had hair that was envy-worthy. But Silena's was just a bit more fantastic, a bit too perfect- maybe ethereal with glossy black hair that waved just so- always shiny and falling effortlessly. Barbie had spent time studying her hair- eventually training her own to fall in a similar effortless motion. She could never make it fall just like Silena's though- which angered her just a bit.
"What?" she asked, glaring at her older half-sister. "He's annoying, ok?"
"Last night you thought he was cool carrying some Minotaur horn back to camp."
"That was so yesterday, Silena." Barbie declared, "Today is a new day- and I say he sucks, he's annoying and I... I hate him!" She crossed her arms, muttering to herself. "Stupid... obsessed with love- I'll show you obsessed you little scrawny motherfu-"
"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.
Barbie wasn't sure Ataru would go through with it, seeing as March was an Athena kid, and March and Ataru were practically attached at the hip.
In the end, it would always be the two of them together- regardless of the best bribe.
Other cabins had great bribes being thrown at them too- things like 'no climbing wall for three weeks' from the Ares Cabin towards the Demeter Cabin (which the Demeter Cabin agreed to immediately) or 'free strawberries for a whole day- pick as many as you please' to rope in the strong-armed Hephaestus cabin. Mags, as Barbie was aware, had been seething at the bribe- but then their 'three weeks' of no climbing wall changed to a month and two weeks, and she seemed rather happy again.
So, what made the night so miserable?
Not a single bribe for the Aphrodite cabin- not one.
On a level, it might be superficial. Call it what you want- whether it's stupid, small-minded or just downright so 'Aphrodite Kid' of her, but Barbie didn't like it.
Capture the Flag was fun when she looked back on it, the thrill of being part of the chase- of landing herself in a sword fight- of doing whatever she had been doing. But she never really failed to remember the bad parts- the parts that made her miserable. She remembered the coin tosses that would occur between the chiefs of both teams wondering who would get the Aphrodite Cabin for the week or the reluctance for her cabin to be on their team with the only reason they were allowed in the first place being the fact the team needed 'bodies'.
The latter was the case this time when Clarisse stumbled over to them, quietly talking with Silena for a few seconds before stepping back, and walking away with a grimace.
Seconds later, and Silena turned back to everybody at the table.
"We're with the Red Team for Capture the Flag this time," Silena announced- and nobody groaned. Perhaps they were all silently surprised they were asked at all.
Barbie was silent too- but not out of surprise, mostly just because she was seething.
"Pass me a can of soda," she muttered sharply- and ten people fought to grab a can of soda for her. Not a moment had passed by before her face was filled with a variety of sodas- all staring at her intently. In the end, she grabbed a random one and cracked it open, sipping silently.
"Barb," Silena scolded, "stop using charmspeak at the dinner table."
"Why do you care?" she replied gloomily, staring over at the Ares Cabin and glaring. They were the reason she was in a bad mood.
"Barb..." Silena said from next to her, "You and I both know how bad charmspeak can go. Can you just... please not use it right now? Mom blessed some of us with this power- but it wasn't for us to use it badly."
"Well, I was just asking for a soda."
Silena stayed silent for a second, and Barbie tried to figure out what she was thinking. What was so wrong with what she had done? Sure- it was a bit lazy, but what else?
"Think of it this way," Silena said quietly as the rest of their cabin chattered. "Sure, you asked for a soda this time- and ten people gave it to you... but as you get older, your charmspeak gets more potent. Your charmspeak is already enough to probably talk down an army if you wanted, so what would happen next? You ask for a diamond necklace, a building, the world?"
Barbie frowned, "I wouldn't-"
"I know you wouldn't, Bumblebee," Silena said- using a nickname she rarely dished out for Barbie know but had been a common occurrence when she was a frightened eight year old. "But this gift... it's a blessing and a curse, ok? Like- mom gave us this to show we can control it and show we won't turn to greed."
"Everybody already thinks we're greedy," grumbled Barbie, "Why not prove them right?"
"Now that doesn't sound like the Barbara Allen I know," Silena said, shaking her head. "What did I say about letting this sort of stuff get to you? Let people think what they think- you and I and the rest of our cabin know who we are, and that's enough."
"But they shouldn't be thinking it, or even saying it." Barbie argued, "just now- we got asked by Clarisse, right? Are you going to lie to me and say that we aren't being used as glorified meat shields again?"
Silena stayed silent.
"I hate how they treat us," Barbie muttered, "I hate how some of them act like we're useless."
"Barb, this isn't like you." Silena said, frowning. "Is this to do with Percy, the new kid? Did he say something to you? Do you want me to-"
"Gods, it's none of your business, Silena." She snapped. Internally, Barbie slapped a hand over her mouth.
She was never that rude to Silena. Never. Silena was like a mother she never technically had, the best big sister ever to exist- to... to say something like that to her was... wrong. What the hell was wrong with her?
"Percy Jackson is just some guy who'll be globbed into the Hermes Cabin for the rest of his life," Barbie snapped- sharply pushing some of her food into the fire before sitting back down, stabbing at the brisket in front of her, "his words don't matter. He... he's just like the rest of them. Believing we're obsessed with love... with ourselves, with- owning things. He's just like all the others, thinking we are greedy. I hate him."
"You barely know him," Silena said calmly, trying to reason with her. But Barbie wouldn't have any of it.
"Barbie..."
"AND I HATE THAT STUPID NICKNAME!" she yelled- and half the pavilion turned to her, Percy Jackson included.
"Barb- please... what are you doing?"
"I'm gonna cool off," she muttered.
"Val- walk with her. Talk to her-" Silena whispered.
"She's pretty upset right now, 'Lena."
"Yes- but right now she'll like you far more than she'll like me," hissed her older half-sister.
In the end, Val agreed- and turned to see if Barbie was still there with the glare she'd left them with- but Barbie was already making a run for it in her pretty pink converse back to the Aphrodite Cabin or the Arena.
I'll show them, she said to herself, gripping her pink sunglasses- letting heartbreaker (her dagger) form in her hand.
Come Capture the Flag- she'd show them.
She'd show Percy Jackson what an Aphrodite kid could do.
rosie speaks!
happy birthday barbie allen!
an interlude chapter for you all!
never done one of these before and
I haven't updated in ages. I wasn't
feeling great for a while and school
got really stressful and unmanageble
so I think I lost some of my skill.
so- here's just a little fun chapter that
explores barbie as a kid more. maybe
a semi-character study?
she was definetly a lot more angsty
as a kid and definetly butted heads
more with silena. I like to think there
would be paralleles to early drew and
barbie and early barbie and silena- especially
since drew in this universe is already at camp
and is a very impressionable little kid.
i also think that barbie's powers would
be seriously potent. like her charmspeak
is powerful as hell- as we know it to be
in the loverboys universe. but barbie
is still a kid- she's 12. she doesn't fully
understand some things yet and silena
has that hindsight for her so she can learn
from it.
i could genuinely talk about this all day-
so feel free to start a discussion in the comments!
so sorry for not updating in so long,
life has been hella tough!
lots of love,
ro!
word count: 2,235 words.