VIOLENT DELIGHTS
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( chapter eight! )
EVEN WITHOUT her ball-cap of invisibility, Annabeth was rather good at staying out of sight. Azalea had searched high and low for a good twenty minutes, even going as far as the check the stables before she spotted her walking, well more accurately storming, out of Cabin Six. The dirty blonde haired girl felt like an idiot for not checking her cabin sooner and wasting her time at all the other off land-ish type of places she thought the curly haired girl might be instead.
"Annabeth!" She called our, as the girl whipped around to her wise her eyes furrowed and her hair being slightly tousled by the light breeze that had a whirling a effect in the arranged formation of a horseshoe by the cabins. "I've been looking everywhere for you."
The curly haired blonde girl rolled eh eyes, as Azalea hogged the few yards to her side as she tucked her loose hair behind her ears again for the millionth time that day. "Lee sent me out to let you know where Clarisse was."
"So you found her then?" Annabeth cut to the chase with her eyes widening in anticipation as she stuffed her twitching hands in her pockets and her eyes analyzed Azalea's facial features coldly. "I checked the scheduled sparring session and she wasn't there, and I couldn't find any of her usual punching bag demigods more bloodied than usual."
"Chiron must have gave her the dismissal on her schedule for most of the day then," Azalea cut in swiftly, before the girl could continue her, likely very lengthy, list of all the places she had already been. "She's at the Big House today, you know, with him."
Annabeth eyebrows dashed upward towards her hairline for a fraction a second at the realization of the Ares' girls whereabouts, before solemnly returning to the downcast expression that every camper seemed to create at the demigod-in-the-basement's mention. Her pale but chapped lips made an inaudible 'oh' sound, as she took her twitching hands from her pockets and began to pick at her nail beds unconsciously.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Azalea asked, a little timidly, a tone she didn't use often but she could tell from the girls mannerisms, that were most unusual for her, that her mind was most definitely not in this dimension or no where near the mind space of the conversation at hand.
The girls grey eyes shot up to meet Azalea's with confusion clouding the outskirts of her iris'. Definitely not paying close attention to what she was saying at all.
"What?"
"To the Big House to find Clarisse," Azalea clarified with worry starting to creep in her own mind. Annabeth was acting stranger and more desolate than usual. Something was defiantly up and even she the new girl could tell. "Can I come with?"
Out of blue, the blonde haired girls facial expression completely soured and her hands clenched into fists as she snapped, "I know my way to Big House."
"I know, but I just thought—"
"Well obviously you thought wrong." She remarked coldly, as she tightened her curly haired ponytail at the top of her head and pivoted on her heels. "Thanks for the help, but I got it from here. Go tell Jackson, that dinner is in twenty and he better not be late."
Azalea frowned with her lips pulling back in a sneer as she I drive out shot back with the same venom the blonde girl has thrown her way distastefully. "Tell him yourself, I'm not a mailman."
"You wanted to help didn't you?" Annabeth shot back reasonably with her tone still sharp and her words clear it came apparently to Azalea that the blonde girl wasn't asking, but requesting. "This is helping."
"What's your deal—" Azalea started to say, only to get rudely cut off as the girl stormed away with a glare as she started an aggressively paced jog.
"Just go find Percy, Lea!"
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IN SPITE OF THE BLONDE, Azalea didn't go and find the son of Poseidon. Well, at least she didn't actively go looking for him, she sort of just stumbled across him from the unwanted guidance of her younger sister, unfortunately. If Azalea would have had it her way, she never would have bothered at all.
She kept her promise to Lee that she would attend training and went to the archery fields and watched the few Apollo Campers not on infirmary dirt fo through there lesson and even shot a few quivers of twelve herself next to Mandy. She was hardly a good short, but she was accurate enough that she didn't have to stay with the beginners since arriving and was at least surrounded with most people her age in her classes. All the while she was shouting, she ranted to Mandy who was on the target set next to her and was nearly acing every shot she made. Azalea would have been a lot more competitive to out do her sister if she hadn't failed every time she tried. It was evident that Mandy had inherited there fathers precision with the weapon and was bound to become an excellent archer in her years spent at camp.
"—And then she just stormed away!" The seething blonde dramatically rehearsed, as she drew back her bow string and let it snap the arrow forward towards the target stationed roughly twenty yards away. Her younger sister Mandy, beside her humming along to Azalea's rant that never seemed to end as she took more time to aim and fire her own arrow towards the target.
"Stormed away..." Mandy repeated blandly as her arrow thudded soundly in the middle rings.
"Yes," Azalea sighed loudly as she blew a piece of her hair out her face. The one strand was constantly falling in her face, no matter how many a times she tucked it behind her ear or pulled it back in a messy ponytail or bun, it always returned to her face. "Aren't you listening? She basically sent me away to do her dirty work while she went and spoke to Clarisse."
Mandy didn't offer a verbal reply as she took her second last arrow from her quiver and started to leisurely dock it on the nook. All the while, Azalea counties to speak all her pent up feelings out-loud and aggressively shoot and aim her own weapon.
"Clarisse of all people. I'm not a messenger, she knows that right?" It was a rhetorical question, yet the blonde girl still turned to her younger sister as if expecting some type of answer. "I'm not just some stupid kid of Hermes who has nothing to better to do."
With Mandy's second last arrow sent flying through the air, she turned to her blonde best friend and half-sister with a beaut rap expression and simply looked her straight in the eyes. It was a look many people in the Apollo Cabin were familiar with as it was the hereditary facial expression of, 'I-am-listening-but-I'm-not-hearing-a-word-you're-saying'. Lee often referred to it as one of the few traits they shared in common with Artemis, their fathers twin sister, who was the creator of the facial expression who then handed down and taught it to the Apollo children for when their father became unbearable. It was a blessing and curse in disguise.
"You're not even paying attention to me are you?" Azalea finally snapped, realizing once and for all that the younger girl was quiet obviously not as invested into her predicament as she was. That was one of the downsides of literally only talking to six people a day and only enjoying one persons company.
"Well, maybe she's just got a lot on her mind," Mandy spoke suddenly, having had heard her sisters woes a hundred times before —, literally anytime the curly haired blonde pulled away from Azalea to gain some clarity on her thoughts. She wasn't the child of wisdom for nothing, she valued being independent and having her own thoughts as comfort. Azalea was a little over bearing at times. "She is kinda a brainiac."
"So?" Azalea refuted with her brows furrowing in the middle and her lips turning downwards. "She didn't have to be such a you-know-what about it."
Mandy shrugged. "Fair enough."
A moment of silence passed between the toe before azalea let out a large sigh, and leaned against her bow, with the one end firmly stuck into the dirt. It portably wasn't good for the weapon, but she didn't exactly about the weapon or what happened to it. It was a rental after all.
"This is why you're my favorite sister."
Mandy snorted, not in the gross way most people would, but like a bunny. With her nose scrunching up and her darkly pigmented freckles against her cocoa skin becoming closely knit together on the bridge of her nose.
"I'm the only sister you actually talk to," she argued still chuckling beneath her breath, as she pulled off her quiver and set it next to the archery stands they stood on.
"Not true," Azalea argued with a small pout as she also dropped her quiver at her feet. Still leaning heavily on the rental bow. "I talk to ... uh, Kayla!"
The younger girl snorted loudly as she crossed her arms and stared at her older sister with a knowing expression, "Only when you have to."
"So?"
"So," Mandy paused with her lips picked in an easy smirk, "it's invalid."
Azalea was about to argue in her defence, when the younger girl proceeded to not only cut her off, but speak over her entirely. "Anyways, shouldn't you be looking for Percy?"
The instantly shook her head. Thinking the younger sibling of hers had outright ignored her again, and didn't bother to understand that it was the last thing she wanted to do. "No! Definitely not, that let's her win."
Mandy rolled her eyes, almost loudly in the over dramatic flutter of her eyelashes. Besides being over confident and downright petty, her older sister had gotten the idiotic need to turn everything into a competition form their father as well. Truthfully he told not many of the Apollo kids hadn't received that rather toxic trait to begin with. As a child, well younger child at camp, she could easily spot the arrogance form all the kids in that aspect. Most fo them had the refusal to win in any given situation ingrained since them. It caused a lot of issues to say the least.
"If I go and do her dirty work," Azalea enunciated the last two words with care as she nearly spat them out on the ground. She refused to take orders from anyone, (not including the Titan Lord Kronos, but that's unimportant. "That basically states that I'm okay with being treated as a carrier pigeon!"
Mandy sighed loudly, as she reached up and rubbed her two brows between her forefinger and thumb, in exasperated manner. "You're being dramatic."
"No," azalea disagreed with a triumphant smirk falling on her pale lips, "I'm being smart."
Having enough fo the conversation and the round about spiral the entire ordeal was becoming the younger girl, picked up her things and went to put them back in the shed. Not because class was over, in fact it was barely twenty minutes in, but because she had a sister to drag off to a water boy. Gods know she'd never actually do it herself because of how idiotic and pig headed she was being at the moment.
"What are you doing?" Azalea hissed as she filled her younger sister with her own bow and quivers in hand to stuff away. For the blonde, ditching archery or any of the other classes besides sword fighting was a common occurrence. But for Mandy, the girl was a goody-two shoes at heart, and never willingly ditched any class. She was half the reason Azalea even bothered showing up on occasion to her other labeled necessary training activities, not by choice mind you. The girl was a devil with her wake up calls and literally dragged her to them if necessary.
"You have class for a least another half hour!"
"So?" The curly headed girl remarked with an arched brow as she hooked the bow onto its rightful handing place in the shed with all the other empty pegs. "I'm already better than half of the people here. Besides—,"
Azalea was frowning at her in the spaniel way when mom would when she argued with her. The blonde had half a mind to tell her gif, but she would then be labeled a hypocrite. "Chiron doesn't care if I leave early cause I attend all of my classes."
Azalea glared at the girls insinuation that wasn't wrong mind you, but uncalled for nonetheless. Sure she didn't attend her classes but she didn't need too. After all it's not like she was going to be sticking around long anyways. She had a mission to complete, even if sometimes she forgot. It was hard not to get wrapped up in the camp and forget her purpose of being there. To spy and give information to the other side.
"Now come on," Mandy said with a smirk and a random little wink that Azalea did not at all find comforting at all. Mandy quickly stole the dirty blonde girls own archery equipment and quickly disposed of them in the shed, before placing her hands on her hips. "We got a water boy to find!"
Not seeing a way out fo the situation she had more or less trapped herself in, Azalea heaved a sigh as she took the young girls outstretched hands as they went to leave the archery fields in search of the last person she wanted to find. They had only walked a short distance form the archery fields before Mandy began prattling her ear off about where they ought to check first. Azalea was honestly to my half listening as she watched a few nearby activities play out, including the volleyball courts where some sautés and nymphs were engaged in a rather brutal looking match filled with hard hits and sneak attacks through veins that trapped the half goats hooves in the sand. A few Aphrodite children were amount the sidelines playing refer and flirting shamelessly with a few of the players.
"I'm thinking he's probably at the swords arena with Mrs O'Leary, so we should check there first."
Azaleas nose wrinkled at the mentioning fo the large dog that had taken residence at Camp. Of all the monsters she had met and encounter on the Princess Andromeda, hellhounds were her least favourite, after the Empousa and Hydras. They always managed to take her by surprise with their sporadic shadow travelling and more than once she had nearly lost her neck to one in duels because she simply couldn't warrant killing anything that looked like a dog. She was a dog person, even if they were close to gnawing her neck off her with their yellow fangs and always drooling mouths.
"The hellhound?" She asked more rhetorically than anything, her hand still firmly clapped in the younger girls as they walked the well worn dirt path towards the outskirts of camp where the arena was built.
"Duh!" Mandy remarked with another eyeroll. Azalea was really wishing she hadn't shown the girl that elsa desirable trait more and more often. She was becoming more sassier every minute they spent together. And that was 95% of the days because of their mostly marching schedules.
"Plus," Mandy continued with a wide brimmed smile, "Percy likes swords—, like a lot! He's really really good with them too."
Azalea was really starting to dislike the person associated with name even more, despite never having met him. And no, it wasn't because Mandy so obviously admired the young demigod, but because he simply sounded like an arrogant show off. Especially from Luke's rants aboard the ship matching most of what Mandy was still prattling on about. Perfect Percy Jackson, with his excellent swordsmanship and so-called admirable luck with quests. Stupid, perfect, Percy Jackson.
"Hey!" Mandy suddenly exclaimed with her wide gleaming brown eyes, "You should duel him! Maybe you can be the first demigod since, well, Luke to beat him!"
The mere thought of duelling the son of Poseidon left goosebumps along her spine. Azalea was good, she wasn't going to lie or discredit her skill, but she knew the stories. She had heard them multiple times in fact, that he had not only face countless monsters effortlessly, but faced down the Ares, the literally God of War and won. That not only takes a load of stupidity but skill as well. Even Azalea had to admit that.
"He can't be that good."
"Well he is," Mandy replied without hesitation. Azalea coding help but feel the girls hand grip tighten as they walked as she nearly blinded in her steps to tell her older sister more about the demigod. "He has no pattern when fighting and you never know where he's gonna strike. At least," She paused with a shrug and innocent doe eyes as she glanced at the blonde girl next to her, "that's what Micheal says."
All Azalea could do was hum in response. She wasn't about to agree or disagree to something she didn't know. Although she visions help but take away the rod but of information to pass on to Luke and the forces outside the magical barrier later. Perhaps, that it why she let Mandy continue in about Percy Jackson's so-called perfect fighting abilities.
"He's like a whirlwind, or a, you know, hurricane when fighting!" Mandy was bouncing in her sneakers, as she gushed on. The blonde girl had to speed up her walk just a smidge to keep up, as the traveled through the Pavilion in the centre of the camp. Only at most, a minute from the outskirts of the camp and closer to the arena. She could see the outline of the dome like shape already, near the mass of pine and maple trees. "I've only ever seen him at sparring practice when he teaches the kids my age, but he's absolutely killer."
Azalea hummed again, not about to offer her thoughts on the boy her age. Mandy however, like a bloodhound hot on the scent of a criminal picked up her disinterest, and quickly pointed it out.
"Now, who's barely listening."
Azalea huffed, "Whatever. So he's like some god at sword fighting?"
Thunder rumbled across the valley, despite not a rain cloud or storm in sight of the entire sky. Apparently Lord Zeus, Azalea tried not to subconsciously mock his title, didn't like her choice of comparison for the curly haired girl with wide eyes and bushy hair. Mandy glanced at the sky, with wide eyes, before nervously glancing back at her sister to timidly reply.
"Maybe not a god," She amended for the big man upstairs, "But, yeah. He's spectacular. He's also not too bad on the eyes—,"
Mandy fluttered her eyelashes with a teasing smirk at her older sister, who instantly frowned at the description. Of course perfect Percy Jackson couldn't be ugly either to even the odds. Honestly, screw the Fates at this point.
"—according to the 'dite girls, anyways. Silena said she'd only leave Charlie for one guy and that's Percy." Mandy said with almost mock horror. As if the Aphrodite girls seal of approval was all she needed to believe that someone was attractive. Azalea had half a mind to argue with the logic here but she didn't see much point. It was obvious to anyone nearby that Mandy was head over heels and balusters idolized the boy demigod.
"Sounds like someone has a crush," Azalea blandly remarked, no longer even bothering to pretend she was interested in the topic at hand anymore. At the mention of her infatuation, the darkly pig mannered girls skin flamed a bright magenta as she quickly tried to defend herself against the remark.
Thankfully, Mandy's stammering responses of 'no, you're wrong' and 'that's not true,' we're quieted swiftly as the two girls came to the end of their journey. They walked hans in and. Beneath the shadowed archway and before the could even properly see inside it, Azalea could hear the telltale sounds of a sword loudly slapping, thudding and slicing across straw filled dummies for sparring practice. Apparently, Mandy was right in her predicament that the Son of Poseidon would be at the arena.
At first Azalea had thought she would just March inside and tell the boy the message Annabeth had bestowed her the boring burden to deliver, but seeing him action, even from the shadows had her still in her steps. He was remarkable with the blade, even she couldn't deny it. The dark haired boy dodged and swiped—, left, right, forwards and back. He didn't hesitate on his strikes and he spun and whirled in such an unorthodox and un-calculated way. A choppy, unpredictable and chaotic dance with a bronze coloured blade.
Azalea had never seen anything like it. It was beautiful to watch. Of course, she was shaken from her ogling of the sparring, as he went to pause for just a second, when the resident Hellhound of camp despised to shadow travel right in the middle of his practice and taking him off guard. The boy went to swipe through the hounds middle section, it was only then that Azalea managed to find her words as she shouted out in warning.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you!"
He jumped, barely noticeable to the untrained eye, as he whirled around to see her and Mandy walking form the archway and towards the centre where he stood. At her voice, the said dog bounded over to her with its stubby tail wagging and ears perked in the hopes of receiving a good scratching. Without a second thought Azalea obliged to the oversized Rottweiler and scratched him between the ears as he hopped around her and Mandy. Both for the girls still holding hands, only dropping, as Mandy went to give the monster belly rubs as he lazily flopped to the dirt packed floor.
"That's a Hellhound," He dumbly stated with wide eyes as he watched Mandy play with him and give him loads of love and affection. More attention than his master usually indulged in on the daily.
"Stellar observation," Azalea couldn't help but sassily remake with arched brows and growing smirk as she offered a little background. "That's Mrs O'Leary. Quintus' monster-styled pet dog."
"Right..," the boy trailed off still with his blade raised shoulder the dog decided to attack, his eyes darting from the toe girls to the Hellhound and back sceptically. "Um sorry, do I uh, know you?"
Azaleas skin prickled slightly at the question. Perhaps he was more dense than most demigods, by his lack of proper verbal skills. It's a wonder Annabeth and everyone else likes him so much.
"I doubt it," Azalea replied simply, as she met him halfway, him walking closer to her. Up close he didn't look like much to her, as less not much enough to take on the god of war, but then again appeared were known to be deceiving. Empousa for example. "I'm rather new here."
The black haired boy nodded with his messy hair shaking as he did, with a small grin peaking up form his cheeks as he capped his sword, with a pen cap? Magic weapon then. Easy for concealment she supposed. He then held out a hand for her to shake. She outright ignored it as he went to introduce himself. "I'm Percy J—,"
She cut him off, not exactly wanting to prolong contact with him. After all she had a message to give and then a blonde to hunt down and ask her why she chose the dumbest of demigods as her best friend.
"Jackson, yeah I know. You're kind of famous around here. Can't go ten minutes without hearing about the outlawed son of the big three," his eyes widened slightly at her statements, obviously not expecting her to be so abrupt, nonetheless she continued to say, "—and Poseidon, the water God no less."
"Sea actually, along with earthquakes and horses. " He remarked wittily, after he managed to wrap his head around all she said. "Yeah, I guess you would know all about me then."
He was cocky, Azalea noted with a raised brow, but she didn't comment on it. Arrogance would be an easy fatal flaw for him to have, but she couldn't help but doubt that it was his. He seemed, despite not overly knowing him at all besides through the second hand meetings and conversations, to not be the type to consciously gloat about his winnings and labours completed. Unlike Hercules, before he was offered immortality, or even Ares.
"Annabeth sent me earlier," Azalea spoke again after the a small bout of silence after his remarks, in the hopes of getting the conversation back on track. Nonetheless the boys smirk never wavered nor did his overall friendly attitude. It rubbed her in a way she wasn't fond of. She didn't want a connection with him, friendly or foe. "She told me to tell you not to be late to dinner."
He nodded at the message and rubbed the back of his neck with an open palm as he gave her a quick once over. Instinctively, Azalea crossed her arms over her chest and met his smile with a neutral expression. Thinking there was nothing left to be said, and he didn't overly rush to say anything more to her, she went to spin away on her heels. Except at the last second the dark haired boy spoke yet again.
"You know," He started off simply, with the ridiculously annoying crooked grin on his face again. Azalea had to fight the urge to wipe it off his face. Not boyish but angled with a clear line of a jaw and a small bump along the bridge of his nose. Likely broken once or twice before, not that she cared. "It's hardly fair that you know my name and I have no idea what yours is."
The blonde girl knew this was his attempt to learn more about her, in a sense to get a feel of who she was and put a name to a face. Still her intestines constructed tightly at the thought of even dropping such a detail to her life. She didn't want him to know anything about her. It was easier, and less constricting when she would leave at the end of summer to go back to Luke. She had a mission and the stupid son of Poseidon wasn't a role within it.
But before she could stop herself, she by habit, let the response roll off her tongue without hesitation. Before her back turned and was already on her way to collect Mandy who was watching the entire conversation with a knowing smirk as she rubbed the gigantic dogs underbelly with her small hands.
"Azalea Bates."
THIS IS SUCH A LATE UPDATE.
I am so sorry, but I didn't know exactly
how I wanted their first interaction to
go urgh. Still don't know if I like how I
wrote it all but—, oh well. Anyways,
what did you guys think? And, as
always, thank you for reading!
— mackenzie