SUNKISSED

mei rolled her eyes playfully before she grabbed a slice of pizza to eat. it was weird that she was the one talking a lot this time, when it was usually the other way around with her and avi. “i know, right? i didn’t think i would get like that.” 

“oh, that’s… very smart, actually.” she nodded, looking a little impressed. “i was with inseong, for fuck’s sake. him and his friends don’t seem to mind the hangovers. but yeah, i guess so.” she shrugged. “damn, who knew that me going to college would be wild… and so illegal.” 

“Mhm.. never trust boys.” Avi joked, winking at Mei. She knew that Mei was responsible enough to know who to trust, and her boyfriend sounded trustworthy enough actually.

“You have a heart of a saint.” Jae replied, just trying to imagine what it was like to look over all of those kids. Just the thought of it made him shiver and never want to become counselor or any sort of authoritative figure. 

“What? Are you telling me you’re the real life Weasley Family? That’s awesome! I personally always related to Ron or sometimes Neville. Poor kid never had a chance.” Jae laughed, reminiscing about one of his favorite books when he was a kid. His sister loved reading and she would give him her books to read. “Well that’s nice to have something to remind you of home while you’re gone.”

“It probably doesn’t help that you’re also Head of the Apollo cabin either.” Jae mused, just imagining the size of that cabin. So far, it was just him & Adamus ( including his dog but she barely took up any space ) so he really couldn’t complain about the space. He had plenty. “This is true. It’s just me & my brother inside of our cabin. I have four siblings back at home & I’m the youngest out of all of them. So I’d much prefer to talk to Adamus then all of them back home. Do you have a huge family back home?”

“No it doesn’t” Avi agreed, smiling. “I don’t mind though.” She loved her position as counsellor. She’d become one after only a few months at camp, and she was still proud of that.

“his high score in a video game, shut up.” she laughed too. mei covered her face in embarrassment and sighed. “it wasn’t… that bad. in america, obviously. if i were in japan, i’d surely get into a huge scandal.” she knew that would happen if anyone found out, especially since she was still sixteen and one of the most famous faces in the country. “i don’t even remember most of it? inseong told me i apparently got really giggly and… clingy?” she laughed. “like i actually sat on the dude’s lap and squished his cheeks, and then ranted about how cute he is.” mei groaned in embarrassment, she still couldn’t believe she did that. “i had a hangover for two days straight, though. it was bad.”

Avi stifled a laugh, “Of course silly, I was just teasing.” she said, taking a bite of her food and listening to Mei further explaining what had happened. Mei didn’t usually talk a lot about her life outside of camp. Then again Avi also didn’t. Sure she talked about her family sometimes, but never really about anything else. Still, Avi liked hearing about Mei’s life in the mortal world.

after a long day of training, mei didn’t mind filling up a whole plate with food at that moment. after making the little offering to her father, she returned back to her seat and faced her friend. “huh? oh… nothing really interesting?” she shrugged. “don’t look at me like that, i swear nothing interesting happened.” mei chuckled. “okay, nothing other than the fact that i beat his high score about fifteen times, and i’ve also… had my first drink at some college party.” she said the last part quietly, seeming like she was a little ashamed of herself. mei was usually a very mature person, she couldn’t believe she ended up doing that. 

Avi almost forgot to make an offering to her dad. She still needed to get back in the routine at camp it seemed. She followed Mei, dropping some of her food in the fire and returning back to the table. 

As much as Odyssia hated talking about the reason she’d come here in the first place, she could relate. “I had something like that happen.” As always, when mentioned, as if by clockwork, a phantom pain in her abdomen, where the scar is, began to ache. “I was attacked about three years ago, came for a year, and then stayed at home because my magic was strong enough to keep them at bay, until, suddenly.. it wasn’t.” She trails off, her voice going quiet as her expression falls. The mention of godly parents perks her up again.

“I bet you do.” She was vaguely remembers that she already knows someone from her cabin, but can’t quite put her finger on who. “I’m Issy, Odyssia, whichever. Sorry.” She laughs softly, extending a hand.

Avi reaches out as the girl speaks, gently putting her hand on her shoulder for a moment. “They can be nasty pieces of work like that.” she tells her as a way to comfort her. Judging by the girl’s expression, her attack must have been worse than Avi’s. Avi had barely even really been attacked, but she senses that that isn’t the case so much with this girl.

“I’m Jae, not head of the Psyche cabin.” He took Avi’s hand and shook it gently, feeling the relaxation started to steep in through her fingertips. That was nice. “Oh, that sounds fun. I don’t know about you, but for me, I feel like dealing with mortal family problems is always much worse than less mortal families.”

She grins at the other girl. Odyssia honestly couldn’t believe that she’d met someone else who knew so much about magic and healing, and yet wasn’t one of her siblings. She could tell that they were going to get along. “Head of the Apollo cabin? That’s pretty cool.” Odyssia comments, nodding as they walk. “Relatively new, I guess. I came once a while ago, stayed home for a while, and then came back after some stuff happened.” Her side aches, a phantom pain for something that is no longer there. “I’m a daughter of Hecate, not a counselor though. Sounds like it would be cool.”

Avi nods, “I only arrived... about seven months ago.” she tells the other girl. “I got attacked by one of my classmates. Well, he wasn’t a classmate after all, of course. Then some satyr, also posing as a classmate, saved me and brought me here.” she says, “Seems so long ago, but also... not.” Avi giggles, time had flown by since she’d first arrived. She was such a different person from the lonely and lost girl who’d gotten to camp. She’d truly found her purpose here.

“Did you know that William Herschel, the man who discovered Uranus,” the son of Athena started off slowly, but as he continued to speak he began to speak faster, his level of excitement growing. “Originally wanted to name the planet Georgium Sidus or George’s Star after King George of England?” Harrison then took a brief pause, as he looked at the other person, waiting to see if they knew anything about it before he continued. “But the other countries didn’t like this- and they were going to name the planet Neptune. But a German Astronomer argued for it to be named Uranus and thus it became the only planet to be named after a Greek God!” By the time he finished speaking, a wide smile had grown across the young boy’s face as he practically bounced up and down on his toes. “Isn’t that just fascinating?”