New (OPEN)

[Asteriesla Walker]

The young girl fiddled nervously with her long black hair as she waited at the house. Waiting was not something that she was very good at, and especially not when she was nervous. Asteriesla wasn't even on the same continent as home. The young demigod was born and raised in England, her home. She had a massive interest in the Greek Gods and their myths, so being here wasn't too scary and was rather exciting, but there was a problem. Asteriesla had been raised by a mother and father, and now she found out that one of them wasn't really her parent and the other must have therefore lied to her. Although to be fair, she had never actually questioned her parents. She was only ten.

Glancing around at the area around her, she shivered, despite the warm weather. The past events had not been something that she had enjoyed. As usually, she was taking a short walk after the toils of school, she lived in the country so it was through the woods when a monster had appeared. This wasn't the first time that something strange had happened to Asteriesla, but this time it did seem like a real monster. She had screamed, and then one of her friends had appeared and he grabbed her hand told her to run. They only just made it back to home, before she was driven to the airport and her parents brought her tickets to America. The flight had been long, and her friend didn't seem very talkative. Then they had summoned a taxi with the Graeae driving.

Now, she had to cope with the idea that she would not back back to school (celebrate!) and possibly never see her friends (Apart from the one who had just revealed himself to be a satyr) and never to see her family again. Then again, becoming part of Myths did sound like fun, and learning how to use a sword and shoot a bow. And Asteriesla would be able to improve her knowledge of Greek Mythology, which would always be a plus. Would there be long lost tales of the Gods and their heroes? That would be fun! Trying to think of the positives while she waited for someone to come and talk to her, the young girl found her mind slipping back to the negatives of leaving her home and family. And the possible betrayal of her parents.

I wonder who my Godly parent is. She thought as she looked down at the ground, kicking a few pebbles. She didn't know too much about demigods, apart from the main ones, which where fathered by either Zeus or Poseidon, and if she remembered correctly, there had been a son of Aphrodite in the Iliad. That had been one of the books she made her parents read to her frequently, her dyslexic brain made it very hard to read, although she did try. Twidiling her fingers, it felt like ages that she had been waiting, although it was probably a few minutes. "Must have been hours." She muttered to herself, thinking about getting up and walking around, not going a metre from the chair she was sitting on, but moving all the same.

[Ginger]

A redheaded girl strolled towards the girl from what looked to be an omega sign made up of cabins. The girl was out of breath, as though she had been running recently. She was about 5'4" with frizzy, curly red hair that fell to her shoulder blades. She was wearing a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt that had been transphormed into a tank top and jean shorts, no shoes. She hated shoes, always had. Well, not always, but there had been a rather bad incident with her sandal strap getting caught on the climbing wall her first year which resulted in a rather bad burn. Since then she hadn't worn shoes unless necessairy.

"Sorry, not use to being the one to greet people yet" She panted, wiping her hand on her shorts before offering it to the other girl, "My name's Ginger, daughter of Poseidon and current greeter and tour guide of camp." She stated, a slight smirk crossing her features. Oh how she hated saying that. Caly was the greeter and tour guide, not her. But of course Caly wasn't here, so Ginger had to take responsibility. Again. But only until Caly got back, which was sure to be soon. She just didn't know when. So until then, she was like the Camp's Director. Not the best one the Camp had ever seen but definitely not the worst.

She looked over the girl infront of her as she waited for her to talk or make some sort of sign that she had been heard. The other girl had really long dark hair and was as pale as the moon. Her eyes were a cross between a steel grey very much like Athena's and a darker blue. Interesting. It was sometimes hard to figure out who's parent was who and this girl was no acception. She was about 10 or 11 at a guess, average age for new arrivals and not much taller then Ginger. But she had the eyes like those of Athena's children, but not the hair. It was a mystery, but she would hopefully be claimed soon. If not, she would certainly be welcomed into the Hermes cabin.

[Asteriesla Walker]

Finally, someone appeared and Asteriesla perked up, moving over to the stranger. She had red hair and green eyes. Asteriesla thought she was very pretty. The stranger was also older than the young girl and she was a bit scared. But she tried not to show it. it appeared that the other person was out of abreath and Asteriesla guessed they must have run here. Maybe they don't often get new poeple and this was a suprise... She thought, hoping that she had not caused any problems for whoever lived here. Hearing the girl's words, Asteriesla gave a shy smile. "I'm Asteriesla Walker." She said in her British accent, it was polite to introduce oneself and maybe it would make thigs easier.

As the girl introduced herself as Giner, daughter of Poseidon, Asteriesla picked up. "You mean the earth shaker!" She said, excitedly, her eyes lighting up with enthusiasm. "In the Trojan war he caused an earth quake so powerful that it shook even the realm of the Unseen One!" She exclaimed, using the way that most Greeks had reffered to Hades during the time that the Greeks were at their strongest. This was something that she understood and she was rather excited, her hands moving trying to illustrate her words. "Poseidon had a lot of demigod children, didn't he. Even though he was married to Amphitrite." Asteriesla said, remembering the myths that her mother and father had told her, although one of them wasn't her parent.

Pausing, Asteriesla tried to think of what else she knew about Poseidon to try and impress the stranger and to make sure she managed to fit in with the people here. "He was the sescond oldest son of Kronos, he weilds the trident. In Roman Mythology he is known as Neptune, the planet Neptune is named after the Roman version." She concluded, wondering if anyone would read the stories and books of myths and legends to her. "Do we get told about the myths and legends? Mum and Dad used to read to me the Iliad and the Oddessey to help me get to sleep." She said.

It was then that she paused, and frowned. "If I'm a demigod, that means that one of my parents isn't actually my parent, it would be one of the gods, right?" She asked, her sudden hyper personality dropping and her hands falling to her side, tuggiling on her loose dark green, almost black, trousers. It was a scary thought and she shivered, again. "Zeus and Poseidon had a lot of demigod children," She started, her hands starting to illustrate again, "Aphrodite had a son she saved in the Trojan war... I think there's also myths about Apollo and Dionysus also..." She paused, thinking. "There are the three maiden Goddesses, Artemis, Athena and Hestia. So I guess its more likely that my father is... but..." She paused, he hands in midair and she frowned, dropping them. "I don't know. I give up." She said, as if this whole thing was simply a game. "Do you know? How would one find out about who's one's godly parent is? Do you ask the gods?" She said, her hands barely illustrating now, due to her sudden quiteness.

Illustrating with her hands was something that the young Asteriesla had picked up while interacting with other children. She found it helped prevent her being so hyper active that other kids would shy away and it also helped to show her point. Most of the time she spoke about myths and legends and the children liked coming to her for the stories she tried to memorize and when she spoke too quikly, she needed her visual aids to explain and help slow her down. Or atleast that's what Asteriesla though, she couldn't remember doing it before going to preschool, but that was a very long time ago.

[Ginger]

The redhead's eyes widened in surprise as the stranger began prattling off random facts and myths. Usually when a newcomer came to Camp they had absolutely no idea what the Greek Gods were or their history. This girl seemed to be the complete opposite, she knew a bunch of stuff about them. For instance, not many people knew that there were 3 maiden goddesses because there were children of Athena and hardly anyone knew their roman names. This was going to be an interesting orientation...

"Yes, Poseidon is the god of earthquakes, horses and water. And yes, he has had many... other love interests." She stated, "He usually fathers cyclops and other monsters as well because of his flings with nymphs. Most of the gods don't stay faithful." She added, it was true to. Most of the gods had numerous demigod children even if they were married. So they were technically cheating on their spouses, that is, if they were married. And to make things worse, they often didn't care about said demigod so they never got claimed! That was one of the worst things about being a newbie. You had no clue as to whether or not your godly parent would care enough to claim you.

"Um.. Sorta. It depends who lives in your cabin with you or where you go every day. There are history classes that sometimes run, but most people go to archery or the climbing wall instead. But you do get to be a part of history?" She said, a look of uncertainty crossing her face as she spoke. "And yes, it does mean that one of your parents is a god or goddess."

Now how to tell her that not all children of the gods were claimed... She could chose to be blunt and just say that not all children were claimed. Or she could beat around the bush... No. She hated it when people did that with her. She wasn't going to subject another person to that. The only thing she could do was try and explain it to the best of her abilities. Good gods how she wished Caly was here. She was such a better people person...

"Well.. Um.. The thing about the claiming is, that not everyone always gets claimed." She muttered, looking down at her bare feet as though they were the most interesting thing in the world. "Sometimes, the gods don't care about us. They don't think were important enough to claim or their just to lazy to send the sign. When and if you are claimed, one of the gods will send a floating holographic image of their source of power. For Poseidon, its a glowing green trident. Athena is a brown owl. It depends on your godly parent." She stated, looking up at the girl. "But until you are claimed you'll be staying in Cabin 11."

Gods how she hated this. And she had done a pretty good job of screwing up one of the most important things you had to know at Camp Half-Blood. Not to expect acknowledgment from the gods. One of the top rules. And she smudged it. Fabulous...

[Asteriesla Walker]

Catching the suprise in Ginger's face, Asteriesla grinned, proudly, she loved being able to suprise people. No one ever expected a ten year old to be able to know so much. True she didn't do much about English, Maths, Science or anything like that, but she studied the myths and tried to learn every story off by heart. "Its the only subject that I'm interested in. Mum and Dad are glad that I like something and they help a lot." She said softly, not too shy about it, still proud of the fact, but missing her parents.

As Ginger spoke about her father and the gods, Asteriesla nodded. "Have you ever met Poseidon?" She asked softly, wondering if they ever got to meet their parents, she doubted it. There were no myths when they had the chance to talk to their parents. They just seemed to have to continue with life and try to survive. Or create wars. That was always the problem, peace didn't seem to follow them. Asteriesla hadn't complained until she had realised that meant that she probably wouldn't have peace in her life.

As Ginger spoke about the camp, Asteriesla knew that she would be attending the history sessions. "I'll attend the history." She said with a small child like grin. "How many cabins are there? Are there ones for all the gods?" She asked, wondering how vast the area would have to be. "Even for local Gods of streams and rivers. I'm pretty sure the local stream and lake of my place had its own goddess. Or Lady of the Lake. Don't nymphs take up the role of a local goddess. There isn't really much about them." She said, struggiling through the bits of pieces that mentioned such things.

Then the topic moved onto a sader tone, and Asteriesla's dark eyes turned to the ground. "I guess that may be why I don't know which of my parents are my birth parents. Do you think they know?" Asteriesla asked, moving to sit on the ground, in the shade of the house, her fingers stroking the dasies. Unlike other girls she would not pick them, she didn't want to anger a nymph. No one had called her strange but it had made it hard to make friends.

Pausing, she looked across and gave a small smile. "But it isn't the parents that matter, is it?" She asked, looking on the bright side. "Its what you choose to do, no one should feel tied because of their parentage. Maybe, at times, not being claimed is sort of a test. To see if they will do great things without having been claimed." She suggested. Standing up, she gave a grin and got up. "If I'm not claimed, I won't let it hold me back. I'll do my bit to help everyone. Maybe when I'm older I can tell the stories of the myths. If we get to act the stories out, I'd love to help as well." She said, trying to look on the plus side. "I bet there's a whole load of things that have been lost but are known here. Such as things about the minor Gods and the local gods." She said hopefully, wanting to find out the small details about everything.

[Ginger]

The redhead nodded, "I should have guessed as much. They probably knew you were a demigod and wanted to prepare you." She smiled slightly. Most people were lucky enough to have parents that knew whether you were a demigod and cared enough to teach you about the gods. She had met a few kids like that at the camp. Although she herself had never been taught about them or even known what they were, she now had her fair share of knowledge.

"I've never met him, no. Only a few people here have met their goddly parent and even then it's only briefly. We have a few that got gifts from their parents, one of Athena's kid got an enchanted scroll for their birthday the other year for example. We more or less don't talk to them, but you can see their powers in us. Some of them have more or stronger ones while others only have small bits. Like I can control the water and bring other people down into the water and sustain them, but I can't talk to horses." She said, a slight smile on her face as she remember her first attempt at talking to the horses. She had only been 9 years old when she had first gone to the stables. She had attempted patting the horses, feeding them, grooming them and poking them, but nothing had worked. She just couldn't talk to them. At first she had been disappointed, but now she was happy that she couldn't. The stronger your powers, the more monsters you attracted, which was bad.

"There are twelve cabins in total, one for all the main gods and goddesses. Zeus, Hades and Poseidon are the three major gods, so their cabins are usually empty. Right now I'm the only one living in Poseidons. And Zeus and Hades cabins are empty at the moment. Adonis.. Use to live there, in the Hades cabin," She said, a faraway look taking over her eyes. "But now he doesn't... Anyways," She said, shifting herself from her memories, "The other cabins belong to Athena, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Dionysus, Hera, Aphrodite and Hermes. Artemis and Hera's cabins are only there for respect and the Hunter's use Artemis' cabin when they visit the camp. Hermes is cabin 11 and they take in all undetermined campers. That's where you'll be living for the time being."

She thought for a couple moments, reflecting on the younger girls words. She'd never thought of it that way, but she supposed it could be true. Afterall, no one really knew what went on in the gods heads.

"

[Asteriesla Walker]

Listening, Asteriesla nodded, it did make sense that her parents wanted to prepare her. "I hope they'll be fine. Do people have problems with monsters as well? They seemed to in the Ancient Greek times. And when I left, there was a monster remaining behind. I don't want it to hurt them or my younger brother." She said. Her brother would probably go out in the forest, which was where she had met the monster. The idea of it attacking her brother was too much and she decided to think of something else.

The explination about meeting not meeting one's godly parents made sense. "They are probably very busy, anyway. Although they do take an interest in some wars, such as the Trojan war. Not many of the Gods remained neutral in that. Zeus, the Cloudgather remained neutral and the Unseen one did not join in. But the war itself was partly caused by the gods, as well as the mortals." Asteriesla said, bringing back memories of the Iliad. It had been really interesting. Maybe too long and lots of names of those who died, but when you looked at it deeper, it was truely fascinating.

As Ginger spoke about her powers, Asteriesla gave a grin. "So you're like a water nymph!" She said with enthusiasm. That sounded like so much fun. Asteriesla never went swimming herself. Her mother said it wasn't something she needed to learn. But the water always looked very pretty. "Do you think that one could figure out who their godly parent is if they develop powers before they are claimed?" She asked, wondering if that was another way people could find out. Although Asteriesla decided to try and act fine if nothing happened, she was curious and did want to find out about who were her real parents.

The Cabins sounded amazing, but Asteriesla picked up on one thing. "Athena's Cabin isn't empty?" She asked, confused. Athena was one of the maiden Goddesses, it made no sense that she should have demigod children. Did they have worshippers of Athena who lived in her Cabin? Were the hunters followers of Artemis? Sworn off from boys? All these questions rushed through her head. "Are the hunters followers of Artemis?" She asked.

Hearing about Hermes Cabin, she nodded. "The winged messenger. He stole a herd of cattle from Apollo when he was just a boy and invented the lyre. God of travellers and theives." She said, realising that that could mean that she, herself was a traveller.

[Ginger]

Ginger sighed in relief as the other girl took in everything she had said with a smile on her face. It was so nice to not have a newbie screaming at her because they hadn't yet been claimed. Of course, who knew how long that would last. Probably not long, but it was nice while it was there!

"Ya, I guess in a way I am!" She laughed, she'd never thought about it that way, but it was very true! Then the thing about powers... It could be true. "I suppose you could, but for some people it would be difficult. For instance, if your a child of Aphrodite, your only real power is looking pretty and having a way with the Pegasus. Whereas if you were a child of Hephaestus, you'd have a way with metal."

"Yes, they usually aren't suppose to interfere with what goes on down here but they sometimes send gifts or advice down to us." She nodded, then tried to decided the best way of telling her how Athena's children were born. "You know that Athena was born from Zeus' split skull, right?" She asked, continuing on before Asteriesla could answer, "Well that's kind of how her children are formed. They're made from her thoughts added with those of the mortal man she likes. Their relationship is purely intellectual. So basically, they spring from her mind and are transported back down to the mortal father."

Athena's children were always a tad bit hard to explain. They were all smart, blond and had grey eyes and that made them sort of like clones. But the birth? Now that was something only Athena could explain. And, not particularly something Ginger wanted to get in depth about. To many details that she really didn't want to know and thought best that Asteriesla not know either.

"The Hunters? Yes, they are Hunter's of Artemis. They pledge themselves to her, they swear off boys, hunt with her and become immortal. However that immortality doesn't stretch to if they are wounded on the battlefield. In that case they are just like us." That was also a bit of a sore subject with Ginger. The Hunters were definitely not her favorite people in the world. If she could have chosen to share a cabin with the Gorgons or with the Hunters she would have most definitely chosen the Gorgons. One thing about her that she hadn't inherited from Poseidon? Her temper. Good gods was it ever present. She couldn't stand the snooty way the Hunters walked around nor their better then everything attitude. At one point in time she'd even gotten into a physical fight with one of them. She'd won, but Caly hadn't been to impressed, in fact, she had kitchen duty for a month as a punishment!

"But they hardly ever visit camp." She added, a touch of happiness in her voice. "Yup, that's Hermes alright. Most of the kids in there are pretty nice, but they do enjoy playing pranks and stealing your stuff. So if you have anything that's super important to you? I'd recommend leaving it in the Blue House or with me until your claimed."

[Asteriesla Walker]

Asteriesla grinned as Ginger admitted that she was like a water nymph. The young girl loved nymphs and she knew that some were even considered to be goddesses of local areas. "Does this area have a local god or goddess?" She asked, curiously. It would certainly be interesting to find one. They would probably be required to make sacrifices of food to them. Smiling, the young girl looked around, as if hoping to see one suddenly appear. She'd love to get the chance to meet a goddess. She had thought she had found the local one to her home.

Listening to the talk about powers, Asteriesla nodded, thoughtfully. "Did you show signs of powers before you were claimed? Or did you start to learn about them afterwards?" She asked, frowning at how hard it was to illustrate her words with hand gestures. It was so normal and natural to her, that when she found herself confronted by something she couldn't illustrate, she actually slowed down, trying to figure out her gestures. Usually when she slowed down, she didn't use her hands either, because they were just for illustrating the fast talking. So it had the double effect of stopping her illustrating her words.

"I don't think I've ever shown any signs of powers." She said, thoughtfully. She woundered what it would be like to get powers. Listening once more as Ginger spoke about how the gods weren't meant to intefere, Asteriesla gave a small smile. From the myths she had heard, they would always be working behind the scenes. For the good of man, generely, but sometimes for their own gain. Maybe Myths could be wrong, maybe they were all true. One had to look for signs between them that allowed one to figure out the truth.

Now, Ginger was explaiing how Athena had children, and Asteriesla listened very carefully. It did sound very interesting. She didn't understand how it worked, exactly. But it did make some sense. "There was a prophecy that if Matis bore Zeus a son then that son would overpower him. Zeus ate Metis to prevent that and Athena came after that. Zeus had a head ache, so Hepheatus opened Zeus' skull and Athena came out, fully clad in armour." Asteriesla said as soon as Ginger had finished, talking about myths was always a thing she would keep close to heart.

The explination of the Hunters was interesting, but it worked with mythology. "Do they get turned into bears if they break their vows?" Asteriesla asked, curiously, remembering that in one of the myths one of Artemis' hunters had broken her vow. If she remembered correctly, it was linked to Zeus. "I wonder what it's like." Asteriesla said, curiously, trying to think of what living forever, unless killed, would be like. Not hanging around with boys. Would it be good or bad? As far as Asteriesla was aware, choices as big as those would probably be made later in life, once you actually had more of an idea of what you wanted to be.

Noticing Ginger's touch of happiness as she said that they hardly ever visit, Asteriesla cocked her head. "Do you not like them?" She asked, curiously. As far as she was aware, they didn't sound too bad. But she decided she might let the topc drop. Hermes' Cabin sounded interesting. "I don't really have anything important to me." Asteriesla said, softly. "People don't really steal from me anyway." She said. Generally, she could press herself into shadows and hide her stuff if needed. She'd only really done tht with bullies and she doubted it would work if someone really wanted to steal something. But she had nothing work stealing. "Do you know what they like to steal?" She asked, curiously, wondering if there was anything out of her basic items she needed to hide.