death of a bachelor

“Long time no see brother dearest,” Dante replied as he caught sight of the other. “I heard rumors you were back but now I can see for myself. What have you been up to in the great big world outside of this measly camp?”

“Yeah uh– not sure I follow,” Dante admitted, looking to his sister with a mildly puzzled expression.

“You could ask Father to send you something, not that I approve of anyone getting their hands on alcohol around here,” Ana commented. 

“I’d offer some, but I’m all out from the other night,” Sawyer replied. “I guess we’ll just have to deal with ginger ale for the time being.”

“Well I appreciate it nonetheless,” he replied with a light shrug of his shoulders. “If I imagine hard enough, ginger ale can taste like a low percentage cider.”

“Dante, it’s only 10AM. Drinking already?” Ronnie asked in a teasing manner, bringing a flask out of his jacket and handing it to him, “Join the club. It’s an enchanted flask.”

“Maybe have a word with the Dionysus cabins?” Ciara asked, “I’m sure they’ve got stashes.”

Darcy laid her head on the others shoulder and looked up to his from where she was, “Oh stop being dramatic, I hardly give anyone the amount of free passes that I give you.” And it was true, but that was what he got for being her best friend. Sure some people found it odd, but Dante was hardly as scary as he looked and she liked to think she got down to his soft shell. “Were they Valentine’s for you? Have you been out breaking hearts?”

“I seriously don’t know why you give me those free passes in the first place,” he replied with a shake of his head. Even though they were one another’s best friends, Dante didn’t even tolerate himself sometimes so he didn’t know how she could. “I didn’t bother reading them. I think they were just nameless decorations from the Aphrodite cabin,” Dante replied.

dante’s voice filled her with that same heart wrenching feeling that it had a year ago, though it no longer stung quite as much to see him, the hurt never quite went away. “yea well, i think i knew that, dante.” she took a long look at him, and tried to resist the urge to make herself smaller than she already was. “you weren’t exactly the romantic type.” she shook her head and said, “ah yes, at least christmas and easter don’t have the same effect on campers.” 

Emilia was already a little tipsy, she always went a little overboard at these types of things. “If you’re hear to ask me about the alcohol, I’m sworn to secrecy.”

“I’m going to take it that secrets aren’t your forte?” he replied after her little tipsy confession.

“Do you really think Aphrodite enjoys receiving flowers, stuffed bears and photos of people’s exes as a sacrifice? I wonder who came up with this idea.”

“I’m not hiding, I’m just-…” Darcy looked at the other but she couldn’t lie, “Okay maybe I’m hiding a little bit, I’m just tired from people asking me to send messages all day. This is what I get for doing them for cheap or free normally.” Darcy sighed, “Happy Valentine’s Day to me I guess. How’s your day going?”

“And here I thought I was special, but it turns out you give everybody free or discounted Iris messages?” Dante reached for his heart dramatically, “You wound me, Darce. You really do.” When she turned a question on him he shrugged, “Eh, nothing new. The most I truly did today was tear down a few hearts somebody stuck to the Hades cabin. Father wouldn’t be too happy to see his cabin covered in pink and red glitter glue.”

seb adjusted his glasses, smiling as he took a seat by the camp fire. “valentines, what a holiday. chocolate and sweets everywhere you look.” and he couldn’t indulge half as much as he wanted to, “oh i’ve missed camp.”

“what is it about valentines that makes the couples annoyingly smug? and us singletons feel forever alone,” perhaps she’s speaking for herself but she turned to the other as she continued to grumble. “it’s such a commercial holiday, i’m sorry i know aphrodite’s the goddess of love and all that but really…”

“I’m afraid I do not speak horse, I’ll leave that to the Poseidon’s bunch. However, I may just ask one of them to translate. One can’t be what you’re up to, little brother.”

“You could do that. But how can you be sure that the Poseidon kid isn’t just telling you whatever they want to? Like you said, you don’t speak horse,” he pointed out. “This may be hard for you to stomach– but I’m not always up to something.”

Elise chuckled and actually smiled. “Well with me, what you see is what you get. Hope that helps,” she shrugged. “Damn, you’re more fun than I expected,” she smirked and walked past him towards the stables. “I bet with a rock and my slingshot I could make things a little more interesting for them too.”

“Well, first of all, people tend to like humility more than arrogance. Plus arrogance sometimes signals that someone’s hiding their own insecurities, which makes it feel a little fake when they talk.”

“I don’t care all too much about what others think,” Dante replied. To a point that was true. He only really cared what his father thought. “You the daughter of a shrink or something? These musings are way too insightful for this early in the morning.”