Thalia's Tree

Minor God Posts : 8306 Join date : 2011-01-14 Age : 27

Eli looked down at the hill and saw the girls walking up. He smiled and stood up as the girls got to the top of the hill. "So, where in New York are we going anyway, Anastasia?" He asked her.

"Don't know, figured we'd go walking around, grab a bite to eat at one point, and then relax at Central Park till we're ready to come back." Ana said with a shrug. Normally Ana would tell people to call her by her shortened name, but it didn't really matter right now.

Demigod Posts : 801 Join date : 2013-02-10 Age : 27

Lea stretches her arms out and turns towards the forest. She smiles sadly and says her goodbyes in her head, so her companions don't think she is nuts. Turning back to them, her smile broadens and she slides a hand in both Eli and Ana's hand, making her the center of the two. "Lets get going then!"

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/2/2013, 6:14 pm

Krystine noted today's slightly lower temperatures as she made her way up the hill, which was, unfortunately, a bit steep. Only a few days ago it had been sweltering hot, but a crisp breeze hinted at the bite of autumn. By the time she reached the top, her breathing was heavy. Not that she'd ever admit how out of shape she was from sitting around in her ~~lab~~ room all day, scribbling notes and poking at dead things. The only exercise she got these days was from collecting said dead things. It was starting to lose its charm, really. Sure, it was easy to pick up the odd dead squirrel or severed arm in the woods, but she missed being able to analyze a freshly dead corpse, or, better, dissect a live one. Just thinking about it made her slightly giddy. If only Felix was still around, he was great at acquiring, uh, human resources.

Anyways, she wasn't here to reminisce. There was work to be done. She looked up at the Golden Fleece, which was hanging on one of the pine's lower branches. It was a few feet out of reach, so if Krystine wanted to, uh, gather a "sample" from it to test, she was going to have to climb up there and grab it. If only she was taller.

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/2/2013, 6:31 pm

Felix made his way to the base of the hill that housed the well-known landmark, Thalia's Tree. He glanced up and felt a light shiver trace down his neck as a sense of warmth come over him. Not an actual warmth from the weather, it was actually surprisingly chilly, but a warmth you'd feel in your heart. He didn't really understand why though, he hated this place. He didn't like how he felt confined inside the boundaries of the camp every time he made his way back here. He'd taken a liking to leaving the camp every month or two and not coming back for a week at the most. But this visit to the mortal world lasted for much longer, around three months or so, though it felt like more in Felix's head. This trip had caused a lot of physical straining for him, the marks on his eyes reminded him of that every time he glanced at a reflection. He'd grown taller, he wasn't able to properly measure himself, but Felix had guessed he was around six foot, two now. He had also lost a noticeable amount of weight, he wasn't the skinniest of guys, but he looked practically malnourished in his own eyes, and surely he looked worse to other's. Last, but not least were the new markings around his eyes. It made it look like he had taken two fresh punches to the face, but the bruising never went away, and it spread slowly like cracks in the dry earth. Reminding himself of his face, he made a sharp tug at the edges of the hood he had drawn over his head. He wasn't necessarily ashamed of how he looked, but he didn't want to stick out like a sore thumb either. He didn't want attention drawn to him, curious eyes looking at him filled with pity or disgust...no, no more of that. The thought of other's made his mind linger over to another subject..his girlfriend. Well hopefully she would still consider herself his girlfriend, he felt horrible for leaving her for so long, without any warning...he really should have left a letter at the most. Felix kicked the dirt under his feet and let out a heavy sigh of angst, watching the steamy exhale leave his lips as he tried to calm himself down. He would deal with these emotions later...for now he just needed to stop standing still and get back into the camp, he knew it was stupid for a demi-god to stand out in the open for so long... He made his way up the hill slowly, trying to blank out his mind for a few minutes.

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/2/2013, 6:44 pm

As Krystine was contemplating the best way to climb a tree, she noticed a hooded figure approaching. She'd much rather get blood on her labcoat than accidentally rip it while climbing a stupid plant -- perhaps she could delay the fleece experiments and cut up a person instead. She studied the person for a moment, debating whether it was actually possible to take them down or not. Most likely male, and tall, which was not a good thing if she intended to murder him. A walk that seemed strangely familiar, though she couldn't imagine why, and that was irrelevant anyways. And there was always the hidden variable of 'do they have a strange power that can kill me on the spot or not'. All in all, too risky. She turned back to the fleece. Perhaps, instead of climbing, she could knock it down somehow? Krystine picked up a pinecone and tossed it at the ramskin, with no result. Damn.

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/2/2013, 7:06 pm

Felix halted his hiking pace to a slow stop as he heard noises to his right. He looked over and saw an individual standing right next to Thalia's tree. It was a girl, and it looked as though she was trying to climb to the top of the tree. Why in the world she want to do that? After examining the tree, and finding nothing out of the ordinary on it, he could only assume that she was some fool trying to take the Golden Fleece. He watched her for a little, observing her tossing a pine cone at the fleece. 'Yup, definitely trying to take it.' he thought as he made his way forward to the tree. He might as well intervene and stop her from any more foolish attempts. She looked familiar for some reason, she has dark hair that dropped behind her back, her skin had a nice tan on it, and she was wearing a lab coat. A lab coat...oh no...it was Krystine. I mean who else in the camp wears one of those besides that cute dork. He took in a quick, sharp breath and then calmed himself. He didn't want to go in looking panicked. He thought to himself 'Look cool...calm..relaxed..yeah..'. After a few seconds he looked up and walked up to Krystine, her back facing him. A raspy whisper escaped his mouth as he talked to her with a trace of happiness in his voice, an emotion that hadn't been expressed in his words for awhile now.

"So did you miss me?" He had only hoped he looked recognizable to her, he wasn't sure if he even sounded the same anymore.

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/2/2013, 7:15 pm

It looked like she was going to have to scale the tre- AH, TALKING. SOMEONE WAS TALKING TO HER. HOODED STRANGER. QUICK, ATTACK. It only took half a second for her to jam her fist into her pocket and grab a scalpel, and another fraction to turn around, swinging the tiny blade at hooded stranger as she did so. She did not like being snuck up on, especially when trying to think about important matters. Hopefully hooded stranger would be stunned long enough for her to abscond or something, becaus- wait, what did he mean by 'did you miss me'?

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/2/2013, 7:26 pm

Felix quickly jumped back as Krystine went and swung one of her scalpels at him. While he managed to avoid getting his flesh torn open, his jacket got a nice little tear where the blade hit. He stumbled back as he tried to regain the footing he had on the earth. He tripped and fell back, landed right on his ass. He tumbled down the hill for a second, his hood flying off his head as he rolled, until he hit a flatter part of the hill. He rolled over onto his back and let out a wheeze of pain as he stared up at the cloudy sky. He couldn't see Krystine, so he continued staring upwards as he yelled, "A kiss would've worked too you know!" He could hear the exhaustion in his voice as he let the words linger out, good gods his voice sounded torn-up...

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/2/2013, 7:43 pm

... hooded stranger wasn't a stranger at all, was he? Frickin' shit, there was only one person who he could logically be. Krystine sighed and put the scalpel back in her pocket. She might need to apologize for that stunt later, but for now, it was Horrifying Confrontation Time. She started walking downhill, wearing a blank expression, and stopped a couple of feet from no-longer-hooded not-stranger, crossing her arms. He looked different now, with strange dark marks near his eyes. She'd ask about that in a bit, but for now, she was going to get to the bottom of things. Krystine tapped her foot while working out what to say, and settled on "Where the F#CK have you been, Felix?" Yes, that sounded suitably angry.

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/2/2013, 8:02 pm

Felix groaned as he tried to push himself up from off his ass. A feeling of nausea suddenly struck and he collapsed once more. He wasn't going to dare try and get up now, his head was spinning and it hurt to even breath. He looked over and saw that Krystine was now in front of him, her arms crossed..and she didn't look to happy either.
"Well you know..over there, over there, and maybe over there as well." He wheezed as he swung his hands at random directions with each 'there'.
"I know you're probably furious with me, but I mean, I did not want to be gone for so long. I just got caught up with some things. Like this guy with a bike, he would not leave me alone...well I mean until I left him in an alleyway with no mandible. But let's save that story for when we kiss and makeup.." He laughed at his own stupid joke as he mustered up the strength to lift his head up.
"But I am truly am sorry for leaving you alone for so long...I feel horrible about it." He sighed sadly, managing to focus his vision on her and cracking a smirk filled with shame. He felt like shit knowing that she was probably worried sick about him, or at least when she wasn't focused on her experiments...He really should have came back earlier.

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/2/2013, 8:30 pm

"Hrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnnnffff...." She could probably kick him in the face or something to further illustrate her disapproval of his absence, but that might be a bit too harsh. On to more questions. "Why exactly did you feel the need to vanish without a trace?" Pause. "And why are there dark marks on your face? Did someone punch you, or is it some kind of fashion statement? "

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/2/2013, 10:21 pm

"Well sometimes I get bored with this damn camp..." Felix muttered to Krystine in response to her anger. "I mean f*ck, we couldn't even cuddle for a little bit without some uptight counselor busting our ass about it. I just got bored and decided to take a visit to the mortal world, have some fun you know." Felix grunted as he began to push himself up. He was on his knees at this point, but he was now getting drained of energy so he just stood there on his knees as he continued telling his case to Krystine. "I mean...it's not like I wasn't having fun with you..I love spending time with you..plus it's adorable watching you do your experiments. It's just..I don't know.. I would've come back earlier, but I got caught up with my own personal missions...and I lost track of the time." He closed his eyes again and started rubbing the side of his head, it was getting pretty difficult to think straight, but Felix managed to go on. He let out a pained sigh as he traced his finger across the skin below his left eye. "As for the eyes..." He whispered, his voice sounding close to a gust of wind, "Let's just put it at 'I was being an idiot with my powers' for now...". Felix started getting tired of kneeling down, so he leaned backwards and went back down to sit on the dirt.

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/3/2013, 7:54 pm

It was a bit strange that Felix hadn't stood up yet. Humans typically got to their feet after falling over, in an attempt to not look as foolish. And he was either unwilling or unable to do much besides sit down. Krystine frowned and pushed her glasses further up her nose as she noted that Felix was much thinner than she remembered. It was likely that he'd been unable to scrounge up enough money for or steal enough food to properly sustain him during his excursion. Dehydration was a possibility as well. Krystine stepped closer and crouched in front of him, reaching for his arm. He needed his vitals tested.

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/3/2013, 8:07 pm

Felix glanced at and saw that Krystine had now crouched down next to him, her handed reaching to him. Felix lifted his hand up and gently placed his wrist into Krystine's grasp. He was half-tempted to give her a little kiss on the back of her hand, just to make her squirm, but he didn't have the energy to do much at the moment, so he let the thought simmer in the back of his head.

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/3/2013, 11:04 pm

Krystine pushed Felix's sleeve back, exposing his wrist. She pressed two fingers against his skin, keeping time in her head and counting each pulse. It was pretty damn low. A sign of malnutrition. Done with that, she pinched the skin about an inch farther down his arm. It felt dry, and took longer than normal to spring back into shape. Mild dehydration? Oh, Felix... she sighed, and stood back up, not letting go of his arm and intending to drag him to his feet along with her. "We're getting you food."

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/3/2013, 11:30 pm

Felix sat quietly as Krystine did her little examination process, or that's what it looked like from his perspective. She took his pulse, pinched his arm further down, he grimaced a little at the skin becoming irritated, and then she quietly sighed. Food was the best solution for Felix right now, and even if he wasn't aware of his malnutrition, he could feel his stomach growl at the mention of food. As Felix slowly arose from the ground, quickly towering over Krystine, he couldn't help but crack a joke as his darling pulled him forward.
"A dinner date so sudden? You were shooting daggers at me just a second ago cutie." He elongated the word 'cutie' as his sentence came to an end, it was just one of those days where making Krystine angry from constant blushing was the main attraction at the fun-fest.

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/4/2013, 11:28 pm

Krystine instantly flushed from being called cutie. "You'd better stop sassing me, unless you want to be fed intravenously instead. Now come on." She trekked back up the hill, Felix in tow, with a sorrowful glance at the Fleece. Her experiments would have to wait until... tomorrow, perhaps. Or the next day. It depended on the speed of Felix's recovery from his apparent case of malnourishment. Krystine wasn't a doctor, but she figured the best way to fix a lack of food was to get some proper nutrition.

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/4/2013, 11:50 pm

Felix let out a brief snicker as he was pulled up the hill. Eventually when they reached the top of the hill again, he was able to catch up to Krystine and stand next to her. He took this opportunity to effortlessly adjust his hand so that Krystine's hand was now in his. He continued walking with her as they began down the hill, trying his best to keep his vision straight, that fall had really done a number on him. He looked over at Krystine and pursed his lips with a sense of aggravation.
"I really am sorry for leaving, in all seriousness." Felix muttered, a wisp of sincerity tracing around the edges of his words as they were spoken.

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/5/2013, 7:20 pm

"You shouldn't have left," Krystine responded in a flat tone. She would not discuss this further until Felix had eaten a proper meal. She wouldn't be discussing much of anything, actually. Her mind was very one-track, and the current objective was to make sure her boyfriend didn't starve to death.
Perhaps she was being a bit harsh with Felix -- he seemed to genuinely feel sorry for his absence, after all. But it needed to be instilled in his mind that sudden unannounced vacations were bad. Bad, bad. She'd whap him with a rolled-up newspaper if she needed to.

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/5/2013, 7:55 pm

Felix looked down at the ground in shame. He should have payed more attention to how long he was gone, he shouldn't have been careless.. But his thoughts traced back to some of the reasons he kept leaving. Trying to find the family that had abandoned him when he was so young, his brother... The reason he stated to Krystine was also true, but finding his older brother was something that kept influencing him to leave the camp. But he couldn't bring himself to bring up that to her, he couldn't put a finger on why he didn't want to talk about it, but he just felt as though it wasn't the right thing to bring up to other people. He really didn't like talking about Shawn at all..

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/5/2013, 8:47 pm

Krystine sighed. She was being mean, wasn't she? Not undeservedly, for certain, but mean nonetheless. She gave Felix's hand a slight squeeze, which was about as close to an apology as she would get. At the bottom of the hill, she veered off towards the Mess Hall, hoping there would be something halfway decent to consume there.

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/7/2013, 3:12 pm

Looking up at the hill, the gleaming fleece hanging on a tree branch, Nisha was hit by a sudden rush of nostalgia. It had been a year - 365 days, 12 months, 52 weeks, and now they were back. Sighing inaudibly, her eyelids fluttered closed, her heart thudding in her chest, too loud, always too loud, before lacing her fingers through her partner's, opening chocolate brown eyes and looking up at her fiance, who's hand she was holding. "Ready?" She breathed out, jaw tight.

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/7/2013, 3:24 pm

Before he'd met Nisha, Malev had never really had emotional attachment to anything. Cano would have been just another place he'd been. But now it was the place he first met Nisha. That was significant to any couple. He felt a bit of a rush when they got close to camp, and took Nisha's hand nice and tight. "I'm read, " he replied, giving Nisha a comforting smile.

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/7/2013, 3:30 pm

Nisha smiled back weakly, trying to swallow the memories. Not all of them we're bad - she'd met Malev, fell in love with him, kissed him here - but, Jane. She swallowed, unconsciously leaning against her fiance, tightening her grip. What had happened to her? Their make-shift daughter. Maybe they hadn't been the best parents, but Jane was gone and she still missed her. Nisha sighed, leaning her cheek against his arm.

"We should probably check in at our cabin." She mused. They both stayed in the Minor Gods cabin - it would be strange not to stay in a classy, five or four star hotel room, but it wasn't too horrible.

Subject: Re: Thalia's Tree 9/7/2013, 4:18 pm

Malev wondered what memories Nisha was thinking of. All he could remember from here was her. I mean, after that, there was the turning, and then there was Jane. Poor Jane. Where had she gone? He wouldn't be too surprised if she hated him. Nisha was always so nice, but Malev hadn't been that great of a pseudo parent. He nodded at what Nisha had said, and smiled a little. "It isn't a hotel, love. We don't have to 'check in'"