RPs happening up in here

Suzanne sat anxiously, with her legs crossed and with one leg jumping up and down against the floor. One of her arms held onto a leash while the other one supported her chin as she tried not to look around too much. This wasn’t her environment at all, full of animals and weird smells and barking. Petunia, her boxer mix, didn’t seem at all bothered by the fact they were surrounded by other dogs, a squawking bird and a nervous, hissing cat. There was even a bigass turtle with a leash around its shell by the end of the hallway. In fact, the dog was pretty ecstatic to be out and about with her owner and to be so surrounded by friendly animals. Suzanne, on the other hand, was a bit mortified to be seen with her dog. It wasn’t that she didn’t like her dog, but she could feel the looks passersby gave her once they gave Petunia a quick glance. The bright red marks that she hadn’t been able to rub out of her snout were pretty obviously not supposed to be there.

This deep voice emerged from the veterinarian’s office as its door opened and a man in green scrubs -most likely the vet- showed out a young man with a massive grey Great Dane. The two of them exchanged a few more pleasantries, then shook hands. The guy with the dog left the waiting room and the doctor turned his attention to the other people in there.

“Alright, next please— In a bit, Mrs. Gellerman,” the vet interrupted himself upon noticing the elderly woman with the leashed turtle had gotten up from her seat and made an attempt to speak to him. “I will see to you and George in a while. When it’s your turn, I promise I will give him my undivided attention.” He raised his eyebrows and inclined his head at her, in a whimsical, yet dismissive way, so his gesture remained polite. It worked, and the woman sat back down, waving her hands about in theatrical apologies.

“Alright then,” the doctor went on, turning to Suzanne this time. “I believe you are next, ma’am.” His eyes systematically fell on the dog that was with her. Unsurprisingly, his eyebrows went aloft upon witnessing the pet’s peculiar state. He didn’t comment on it just yet, instead invited Suzanne and the dog inside the practice.

“Please come in,” he said politely, showing her the way in and holding the door open for her. Once inside, he closed it, and positioned himself behind the stainless steel examination table.

“And nice to meet you too, Petunia,” Aaron greeted the dog as it came to investigate him. He held out his hand for her to sniff, allowing the dog to familiarize herself with him. “I’m going to take a wild guess and assume you’ve come here for… this?” He gestured at the pooch’s mouth, where the bright pink stains of lipstick still stuck to the fur. “Lipstick, I would guess. Unless you do this on the regular, so you and Petunia would match. Which you are free to do in your own time of course, but as a vet, I don’t recommend it. It’s not toxic, but still, not recommended.”

Upon her mention of the paperwork, Aaron briefly left the dog on the table and went over to his desk. There, he retrieved the mentioned paperwork, which his assistant had left there sometime before Suzanne had come in. While he returned, his dark eyes scanned the sheet, indeed noticing that not everything was filled in.

“No matter,” Aaron shrugged off good-naturedly, putting the sheet on the table. “This happens all the time, no need to worry.” He picked up a small flashlight from the counter where he’d gotten his gloves from, then turned back to the dog. Carefully, he put his fingers in Petunia’s mouth and pulled it open, using a couple of fingers to use the flashlight and look inside. “So you got her at 4 weeks old? That is relatively early. Did you adopt her from a shelter, or took her from someone else? Sheltered animals should all have received the necessary vaccinations.” He glanced briefly at Petunia’s owner, who had occupied herself with twirling her hair. He had to note she was quite pretty. She also appeared a little nervous, but he assumed that was because of her dog. Clients tended to be a little antsy when their pets were being examined.

Aaron pulled a pen out of his breast pocket and made a couple of notes on a small notebook that lay in a corner of the steel table. “Yeah, no need to worry about the stains. They’ll be gone soon enough when she drinks or licks. The fur will make it wash out with a bit more difficulty than it does on human skin. It shouldn’t leave any damage.”

He left the pen on the table, then scratched Petunia behind the ears. “As far as the vaccinations go, I can give her the necessary shots right now if you’d like. It doesn’t really matter whether or not she’s already received them in the past. It’s better to be safe than sorry.” Privately, he wondered where the mixed dog had come from. Nowhere dodgy he hoped, which was one of his biggest pet peeves, since incorrectly bred dogs often ended up with a lot of health problems. At least Petunia’s owner seemed to genuinely care about her pet, considering she’d brought her in so quickly after being confronted with the dog’s unconventional snack.

His praise did fill her with pride, but it also gave her a little guilt. And anger. After all, she hadn’t been the one to look after Petunia up until now. “Thank you. She’s my only roommate now. Girls have to look after each other, after all.” She reached out to scratch her dog’s back for a little, chewing on her bottom lip for a bit. 

While he spoke, he’d fished a key out of his pocket, which he used to open a glass cabinet that stood against a wall to the left. He retrieved a couple of vials from it, then closed the cupboard again. He lifted his eyebrows comically. “While this might come off as an insurance promo, I can assure you it’s not. It’s simply an option if you are interested. It requires a small yearly fee. I have more flyers about it, should you want one.” 

After having placed the vials on the counter behind him, Aaron opened a drawer and fished out a clean syringe. He hoped that he’d correctly assisted her in an indirect way, without making her feel uncomfortable about her finances. Truthfully, a lot of the job was navigating people rather than animals. The animals were by far the easiest to work with, so he had experienced overtime. As he prepared the first shot, he chuckled at Suzanne’s words.

“True,” he confirmed with a nod. “Girls are the best roommates. There’s mine.” With his hands occupied, Aaron nodded his head at his desk, where a picture of a black and white dog stood, sitting happily in a field of flowers with her tongue lolling. “Border collie. Her name’s Maisie. Okay girl, hold still.”

Aaron had approached the dog, the injection in one hand. “You might want to stroke her face a little,” he instructed Miss Lee, “Keep her a little distracted.” Next, he felt around the end of Petunia’s back. Once she was secured, he picked out the right spot and inserted the needle in one fluid motion. Five seconds later, it was over.

“Alright, excellent,” Aaron commended. “Just two more and she’ll be all set.”

He looked up at Petunia’s owner when she addressed him, confirming his name with a quick nod. A little smile tugged at the corner of his mouth when she spoke. There was something endearing about how concerned she was about her care for the dog.

“Oh,” she blinked a little, and realizing she made a sound that would call attention to her, she continued her thought “I thought you meant an actual girl when you said that. I was going to say,” she did a playful little hairflip, “'Why, yes, we do make the best roommates'. Which we do.” As instructed, she reached out to Petunia and coaxed her to turn to face her, petting and scratching her enough to distract her away from the shots she was about to get. She leaned in closer to the pup and spoke with a might higher pitched voice. “You're gonna be a good girl, right, Petunia? You're gonna let the good doctor work without barking, right? And you're gonna get a treat when we leave, right? Of course you are.”

“Jacqueline had an anniversary thing,” he explained while he made his way back to the kitchen table and sat down at it. “So I gave her the weekend off. She made a fuss about it of course. But I told her that if she complained one more time that fine, I was gonna give her the work anyways and then she stopped talking pretty quickly.” He browsed through the mail, sorting bills from commercial folders. He snorted when she mentioned the interns.

“Whenever it’s ready is fine,” he commented on her question about the food. “I could eat.” He looked away from the letter and leaned back to try and catch a glimpse of what she had in there, but it was gone again too fast. 

He raised his eyebrows at her statement about bringing interns to tears. He didn’t even blink an eye. “Well you’re not wrong,” Fred told her audaciously. He tossed the bill on the table, then stretched his arms to the back to rid the strain on his arm and back muscles. He ended his stretch with a long sigh.

“I guess I should go ahead and pay these and be done with it,” he muttered. He got up from the chair and retraced his steps to the hall, where he picked up his bag, and returned to the kitchen with it. Fred withdrew his laptop from it and sat back down while he started it up. He scratched his cheek while he observed the loading screen.

Everything about her day seemed normal, until she mentioned downtown New York. Anza had been correct in her thoughts, because that did rouse his attention. He looked up from the screen, and slowly moved his head to look at her. He observed how she stood there, next to the table.

“You ‘talked to some people’,” Fred repeated, his face and voice deadpan.

A pause.

The frown on his face unfolded, and it made room for a brief moment of surprise. He hadn’t expected that to be the reason, but only seconds later, Fred realized it actually didn’t surprise him at all. It was just like Anza to go check up on the little girl to make sure she was doing okay. She always got so easily attached to things and people. He was probably the prime example of that notion, which, in the end, had been a good thing.

“Not just situation, probably,” Fred added, leaning his face in one hand, and his elbow on the table. The other one was tapping idly on his keyboard. He wasn’t good at focussing intently on two things at the same time, and for now the conversation had taken up most of it. “The demigod factor also tends to make some kids more isolated. Especially considering our suspicions about her father.”

Fred went quiet a second, his eyes staring at nothing as he remembered the unexpected manifestation of the powers of the child -called Dhara apparently- and how rather… alarming they’d been. No wonder she had attracted monsters at such a young age. “… Hades or Pluto children tend to have this… vibe about them. If you’re not used to it, I imagine it can be a little unsettling.” It was something Fred hadn’t really experienced himself, having grown up with Ben as he had, but he’d witnessed it happening around camp, or people his cousin interacted with.

“I already did. Chiron (are we using Chiron? I don’t wanna use Theseus, fuck that) seemed… conflicted. Three years old is a lot younger than they usually deal with at camp. Youngest are usually closer to the ten year old mark. Lids are a lot more self sufficient by that point and don’t need as much one on one attention. He said he’d look into it and keep me informed.” She paused for a moment, watching as Fred typed things into his computer. She tapped her foot against the floor “I don’t know how long that sort of thing would take…”

“They’ll figure something out,” he assured. Meanwhile, he’d pulled out his card and was now fiddling with it in order to get the payment done. “They’re best suited to decide what course of action to take.”

Silence after that. While Fred continued to fill in the correct data, he glanced at his girlfriend every now and then. Indeed, he could tell she was mulling something over. She appeared tense and antsy. He sighed privately. She had probably gotten too emotionally invested and was now stuck worrying about the little girl.

Silence after that, but Fred left it, and ate. He figured Anza was still stewing over the Hades child, and probably would be so until they received news from Chiron that they’d taken the little girl in.

He was already halfway through his meal when she put her knife and fork down. Fred had noticed during his eating that she’d hardly touched her food. He glanced up at her face. She looked hesitant, and he knew something was coming.

He was right. After Anza was done talking to him, Fred stared at her. By all means, he would say it was a joke. But since he’d lived with the Demter child for a while, he knew this was a matter she would not be cracking funnies about.

Esperanza took a deep breath, swallowing a bit of her indignation at his reaction and letting herself calm down a little. She put her hands beside her plate, looking intently at the pieces of chicken she’d cut up. “Ok, fine, let’s… leave the gods out of this. This isn’t about them and there’s nothing they can do about it.” She looked up at him again, lips pressed into a tight line, jaw clenched tight.“What part scares you more, the ‘demigod’ part, the ‘Big Three’ part, or the ‘child’ part? Because if it’s what I think it is, I guess we should address the elephant in the room, Fred.” 

“That is not…” Fred began, before his voice trailed away. He threw a glance at Anza, but immediately looked away again, avoiding her eyes. He’d realized a little too late how his words might’ve come across to her, and he had to admit he had not thought them through much. Which was often the case whenever he got a little too worked up. This wasn’t helping any; Fred could feel his stress levels rising, and he wanted to avoid a conversation like this. It’d been plenty difficult and draining in the past, and it didn’t need to be raked up again in his opinion.

“That is not what I meant,” he went on after a moment to recollect his thoughts. He was still avoiding to look at her, instead picking up his fork again and moving it around in the chicken on his plate. The fidgetting became apparent. “What I am saying, is that we are in no way accommodated to house a child. Other than that, I don’t think two demigods are the best option to raise a Big Three child. If anything, it’d only intensify her presence like a beacon, because we’d be there to enhance it. A mortal parent, or any mortal, cloaks a bit of their aura, at least.”

At this point, Fred had begun to gesticulate with his fork, emphasising his words as he made his point. “And furthermore,” he continued, “it just seems very… by lack of a better word, random.”

His eyebrows had knit together and his multicoloured eyes were roaming across the table, as though he was collecting his arguments from there. Throughout his explanation, he could feel he was getting worked up again. This time, he did look up at her. “I’m not saying all this to pick a fight,” he said, his fork flying to the side this time, “The idea seems very far-fetched, and surreal. I don’t understand why it has to be us.” He shook his head a little in a confused motion, once more emphasising how hard it was for him to wrap his mind around it. “Camp Halfblood is a better suited place and a safer environment for a demigod child. And if I need to bring up another argument, I don’t want to.”

Esperanza let go of the fork and turned her hands, palms up. She stared at the fading scars along her wrists. “She flew back and forth several times, grabbing me and scratching me with her talons. I covered my face the best I could.” She grimaced slightly and the scars on her cheek became more than obvious. “ I don't even know how I killed it, it might've been with the thorn bushes behind me. All I remember was being covered in blood and crying, as I made my way home. My dad wasn't even there, he was still at work. I tried cleaning up and stopping the blood, but I just stained everything I touched. When he got home, an hour or two later, he took one look at me and then rushed me to the hospital. It was the scariest moment of my childhood.” She pulled her hands closer, dragging her fingers along the closest scars. “And it only got worse from there.”

“Most of the scratches weren't deep enough, but some needed stitches. Doctors kept asking me questions. Where I got the scratches, how I got the scratches, if anyone did it to me. Nobody believed me when I said a crazy, bird woman from school. After they stitched me up and bandaged my arms and then gave me back to my dad. But it only took a few days for someone to come knocking at our door. Social Services. They wanted to investigate my dad about my scratches. They asked me a lot of questions, then they asked my dad more questions. Then my neighbors, my teachers, my friends. Eventually, they took me away to a place with a lot of kids, then asked me questions again. Different people, different questions. Some were doctors, others cops, and some fancy people in suits. While I was there, I wasn't allowed to see my dad, and someone would drop me and pick me up from my school in case he wanted to contact me. It took weeks for them to give me back. It was a scary place, full of kids and junk and noise, where nobody listened to me and kids looked at me weird and stared at my arms. My dad took us California after that, he got scared. We lived in New Mexico for years before he dared go back to Cali again.”

Outside, campers were laughing, playing. Birds were chirping, pegasi were whinnying in the distance. To Louis, it could might as well have been a completely different world. One he didn’t belong to. The empty hospital wing was like a bunker, set into another dimension. He might as well be lying on the dirty hard ground he’d been lying on about 60-something hours prior. None of the softness of the mattress, blankets or pillows were getting through to him. His mind was locked in a strange setting of denial, rage and sadness. He didn’t seem able to pick a feature, didn’t know whether he wanted to cry or punch something. It was a very strange experience, because he wasn’t used to having these feelings on the regular. That realization didn’t help him any either, and made him feel even more depressed.

It was incredibly surreal and weird. His brain told him that his leg was still there. He could feel it. It hurt. But one glance, one pat, told him that is wasn’t. He tried not to think about that, preferred the idea that if it hurt, it was really still there and this was really all just a horrible nightmare that he’d wake up from any minute now. Any minute now.

Louis turned on his side. Maybe the aching would stop if he did. Undergoing the absence of leg weight was strange. He was facing his nightstand now, looking away from the door. A large bouquet of flowers perched on it. Thyme had brought them for him, having gotten to camp as soon as she could with the portal watch she had. She’d gone back some time ago to go inform his mother about his accident. It was something Louis both dreaded and looked forward to. His mom would be so saddened, but at the same time he longed for the comfort of her presence. Amongst the flowers were other things: muffins, cookies, a book, his mythomagic card set that Juli had brought in. Nothing about that seemed appealing right now, or possessed the ability to put him in a good mood.

Her subsequent visits had been more tame. Louis had stabilized, but he’d spent much of that time unconscious, recuperating. He visits had been short, mostly to watch him worriedly for a few minutes before leaving. She couldn’t stand him just being there so lifeless. It was so unlike him, and it scared her a little.

They’d told her that he was awake on and off now, but she wasn’t yet expecting much out of her visit. She had previously brought him snacks from breakfast, lunch and dinner, but they had only piled up and gotten stale on his table, so this time she came in with nothing. 

Louis turned his head, locating Jordan in the room, making her way towards him. He felt his stomach drop. Not because he didn’t want her there, but mostly because of the fact he hadn’t seen her before. Every time someone came to see him for the first time, it was the same scenario. They were in shock, some nearly in tears. Some didn’t know how to behave, or did their very best to avoid bringing up his lost leg, probably in an attempt to distract him from it, pretending it was no problem. It was never a pleasant experience. 

“Hey.” Despite the fact that she’d wanted him to be awake, not that he was, she wasn’t sure of what to say.All the plans and rehearsed conversations she had flew out the window. She wasn’t very good at this talking thing. “I finally managed to catch you awake.” She placed her hands on the side of the bed, over the sheets as she watched him.

“Yeah. Sorry…” Louis responded, his voice monotone. He turned back to watching the ceiling. In any other occasion, he would have elaborated. But much like her, he didn’t know what to say. What could he even say? He had no idea. His brain seemed a little numb too. When Jordan touched his arm, it was something that, by all means, would have surprised him. Whenever she touched him, it was usually to shove him, albeit that had decreased gradually over the years. Still, it didn’t happen a lot. But again, he experienced in a rather mild manner.

The Hephaestus son blinked for a moment as she mentioned his loss. It was the first time someone had phrased it like that. It sounded a little odd, because to him, it was a phrase that he associated with someone losing someone dear to them. Not so much a limb. It was kind of a strange feeling, because yes, it did feel as though he had lost someone dear, even though that dear thing was something that used to belong to his body. He hadn’t really thought about it that way.

“I don’t know…” he told her honestly upon her inquiry how he was feeling. He added a little shrug to it. “Angry, sad. But at the same time also nothing.”

Louis hooked his right arm beneath his pillow and lifted it, rearranging his head on it to be more comfortable. It didn’t help much. He was drained, but tense at the same time, as though his body wasn’t allowing him to get comfortable, but at the same time needed the rest. While the nectar and ambrosia had done its part in healing most of the superficial injuries, he’d also suffered a lot of bruises and a sprained wrist. He’d probably landed on his hand wrong trying to get away from the falling debris, and his back was covered with black spots.

He moved his eyes away from the ceiling momentarily as he heard Jordan shuffle around, observing how she picked up a chair as though it was a cardboard box. When she spoke up next, Louis squinted his eyes a little while he turned back to the ceiling.

“Well it’s definitely not any less worse,” he snapped, turning rather harshly on his side, away from her. Retribution followed suit because there was a painful pang in his shoulder and he winced. Only seconds later, he was aware that even he himself was not used to this snark in his voice, which made him feel guilty, which -in turn- made him feel angry with himself. He didn’t like what this was doing to him, but he couldn’t shake it off.

Louis was quiet for a while, lying there, facing the wall. He rubbed one of his eyes with the palm of his hand after noticing his eyes had begun to sting. He took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, trying to calm down. He lay there for another moment, before he turned on his back again, facing the ceiling once more.

“Sorry,” he said a second time. Another pause, while his eyes ran across the ceiling. A ray of sunshine was cast upon it, entering from the window.

“I almost lifted everything off of you. They had to stop me from taking the rocks off your leg before they put in a tourniquet, otherwise I'd accidentally kill you.” Although he wasn’t watching her, she had her eyes glued on him, her expression pretty much unreadable. On the inside, however, her stomach was in knots. There was a sense of relief, because he was still alive and there with her, but she felt guilt. Her heart went out to him in a way that it never had for anyone else, and it wasn't because the situation was so similar to what she'd already experienced before, it was something else. “I was... afraid you were going to die, so I left it. I'm sorry, I... couldn't save your leg, too.”

She looked away from him, choosing instead to stare down at her hands. She had a few cuts on her fingers still, from lifting up rocks and other debris, but they weren't too much of a hassle. Still, she couldn't help but pick at the dead skin with her fingernails. She didn't know if he wanted her there or if she was only causing him more distress. He certainly didn't seem to be happy with her presence. It took her an even longer silence until she continued talking.

Suzanne sat anxiously, with her legs crossed and with one leg jumping up and down against the floor. One of her arms held onto a leash while the other one supported her chin as she tried not to look around too much. This wasn’t her environment at all, full of animals and weird smells and barking. Petunia, her boxer mix, didn’t seem at all bothered by the fact they were surrounded by other dogs, a squawking bird and a nervous, hissing cat. There was even a bigass turtle with a leash around its shell by the end of the hallway. In fact, the dog was pretty ecstatic to be out and about with her owner and to be so surrounded by friendly animals. Suzanne, on the other hand, was a bit mortified to be seen with her dog. It wasn’t that she didn’t like her dog, but she could feel the looks passersby gave her once they gave Petunia a quick glance. The bright red marks that she hadn’t been able to rub out of her snout were pretty obviously not supposed to be there.

This deep voice emerged from the veterinarian’s office as its door opened and a man in green scrubs -most likely the vet- showed out a young man with a massive grey Great Dane. The two of them exchanged a few more pleasantries, then shook hands. The guy with the dog left the waiting room and the doctor turned his attention to the other people in there.

“Alright, next please— In a bit, Mrs. Gellerman,” the vet interrupted himself upon noticing the elderly woman with the leashed turtle had gotten up from her seat and made an attempt to speak to him. “I will see to you and George in a while. When it’s your turn, I promise I will give him my undivided attention.” He raised his eyebrows and inclined his head at her, in a whimsical, yet dismissive way, so his gesture remained polite. It worked, and the woman sat back down, waving her hands about in theatrical apologies.

“Alright then,” the doctor went on, turning to Suzanne this time. “I believe you are next, ma’am.” His eyes systematically fell on the dog that was with her. Unsurprisingly, his eyebrows went aloft upon witnessing the pet’s peculiar state. He didn’t comment on it just yet, instead invited Suzanne and the dog inside the practice.

“Please come in,” he said politely, showing her the way in and holding the door open for her. Once inside, he closed it, and positioned himself behind the stainless steel examination table.

“And nice to meet you too, Petunia,” Aaron greeted the dog as it came to investigate him. He held out his hand for her to sniff, allowing the dog to familiarize herself with him. “I’m going to take a wild guess and assume you’ve come here for… this?” He gestured at the pooch’s mouth, where the bright pink stains of lipstick still stuck to the fur. “Lipstick, I would guess. Unless you do this on the regular, so you and Petunia would match. Which you are free to do in your own time of course, but as a vet, I don’t recommend it. It’s not toxic, but still, not recommended.”

Upon her mention of the paperwork, Aaron briefly left the dog on the table and went over to his desk. There, he retrieved the mentioned paperwork, which his assistant had left there sometime before Suzanne had come in. While he returned, his dark eyes scanned the sheet, indeed noticing that not everything was filled in.

“No matter,” Aaron shrugged off good-naturedly, putting the sheet on the table. “This happens all the time, no need to worry.” He picked up a small flashlight from the counter where he’d gotten his gloves from, then turned back to the dog. Carefully, he put his fingers in Petunia’s mouth and pulled it open, using a couple of fingers to use the flashlight and look inside. “So you got her at 4 weeks old? That is relatively early. Did you adopt her from a shelter, or took her from someone else? Sheltered animals should all have received the necessary vaccinations.” He glanced briefly at Petunia’s owner, who had occupied herself with twirling her hair. He had to note she was quite pretty. She also appeared a little nervous, but he assumed that was because of her dog. Clients tended to be a little antsy when their pets were being examined.

Aaron pulled a pen out of his breast pocket and made a couple of notes on a small notebook that lay in a corner of the steel table. “Yeah, no need to worry about the stains. They’ll be gone soon enough when she drinks or licks. The fur will make it wash out with a bit more difficulty than it does on human skin. It shouldn’t leave any damage.”

He left the pen on the table, then scratched Petunia behind the ears. “As far as the vaccinations go, I can give her the necessary shots right now if you’d like. It doesn’t really matter whether or not she’s already received them in the past. It’s better to be safe than sorry.” Privately, he wondered where the mixed dog had come from. Nowhere dodgy he hoped, which was one of his biggest pet peeves, since incorrectly bred dogs often ended up with a lot of health problems. At least Petunia’s owner seemed to genuinely care about her pet, considering she’d brought her in so quickly after being confronted with the dog’s unconventional snack.

His praise did fill her with pride, but it also gave her a little guilt. And anger. After all, she hadn’t been the one to look after Petunia up until now. “Thank you. She’s my only roommate now. Girls have to look after each other, after all.” She reached out to scratch her dog’s back for a little, chewing on her bottom lip for a bit. 

While he spoke, he’d fished a key out of his pocket, which he used to open a glass cabinet that stood against a wall to the left. He retrieved a couple of vials from it, then closed the cupboard again. He lifted his eyebrows comically. “While this might come off as an insurance promo, I can assure you it’s not. It’s simply an option if you are interested. It requires a small yearly fee. I have more flyers about it, should you want one.” 

After having placed the vials on the counter behind him, Aaron opened a drawer and fished out a clean syringe. He hoped that he’d correctly assisted her in an indirect way, without making her feel uncomfortable about her finances. Truthfully, a lot of the job was navigating people rather than animals. The animals were by far the easiest to work with, so he had experienced overtime. As he prepared the first shot, he chuckled at Suzanne’s words.

“True,” he confirmed with a nod. “Girls are the best roommates. There’s mine.” With his hands occupied, Aaron nodded his head at his desk, where a picture of a black and white dog stood, sitting happily in a field of flowers with her tongue lolling. “Border collie. Her name’s Maisie. Okay girl, hold still.”

Aaron had approached the dog, the injection in one hand. “You might want to stroke her face a little,” he instructed Miss Lee, “Keep her a little distracted.” Next, he felt around the end of Petunia’s back. Once she was secured, he picked out the right spot and inserted the needle in one fluid motion. Five seconds later, it was over.

“Alright, excellent,” Aaron commended. “Just two more and she’ll be all set.”

He looked up at Petunia’s owner when she addressed him, confirming his name with a quick nod. A little smile tugged at the corner of his mouth when she spoke. There was something endearing about how concerned she was about her care for the dog.

Kei had never known a scenario where a skeleton came to life was a good one. But then again, not too long ago he had been approached by a glowing blue orb that turned out to be a spiritual whale who he had now befriended. So in that retrospect, a living skeleton shouldn’t freak him out too much.

He goggled at the spirit -assuming it was a spirit- as it headed for a door near the desk, explaining. Kei wondered if he was supposed to follow. He wasn’t moving that fast anyway, so he decided to limp towards the door where the skeleton was calling for someone. The guardian furrowed two confused eyebrows at the spirit. How on earth did it know he was from Hawaii? THE kid from Hawaii apaprently. Kei was pretty sure he would have remembered meeting a moving skeleton before. Unless he’d been clobbered on the head, he was quite certain he’d never seen this guy before, but apparently that wasn’t vice versa.

The table in question was a long, wooden table in the middle of the room. It was extremely flat and rather plain. The texture on the surface was marred by small indents where sharp objects had dug in close to the corners, but the rest of the surface had been polished smooth, no doubt by other people sitting on it much like how Kei was being asked to at the moment.

This done, Kei took a moment to observe the room, looking at the various items on display, and plants he had never seen before in his life. What a peculiar place.

As he heard movement, he turned his head in the direction of the door, which he saw had been opened. Kei grinned when he saw the woman approach. He knew he’d been right, he recognized her from the last time he needed medical assistance.

“Ey, no problem!” he insisted, waving graciously with his hand, “This is nothing, this one time I had to take my cousin to the ER because he got a fish hook in his finger -long story- but it took forever before a doctor came. This is a breeze.” He grinned a second time as she searched for his name. “Yeah, it’s Kei. Good job remembering, I bet it must be tough. There’s so many people here and if everyone is like… two-hundred years old, then I guess they just keep on coming don’t they?” he chatted on.

When her spirit handed her the file, she gently placed it on a small tool cart next to the table before turning to Kei again. She laughed a little at his ‘confused and disoriented’ comment. “Don’t feel bad. You’re not the first, and certainly not the last, person who will end up being dragged inside the house injured and with no clue as to what’s happening. That goes for wizards, guardians and otherwise, though I’ll admit that it happens to more guardians than any other category. They’re also a bit harder to remember the names of, considering they come from all over the world.”

As she spoke, she crouched down a little so she could begin inspecting the damage on his leg. She reached out for a towel that might’ve been white at some point but could be now best described as beige with wear and tear, which was sitting on the same cart where his file had been placed. She dipped it in a small bowl of water, wrung it dry and then proceeded to start cleaning around the injury, making sure to keep her touches light but steady. She glanced up at him.

As the skeleton returned with his file, Kei eyed the paper curiously, trying to catch a glimpse of what it might say. But all he saw was the front with his name on it, so that was not particularly exciting. He nodded his agreement as she talked about guardians from all over the place. He couldn’t agree more, in fact, because he’d just been in Hawaii a couple of weeks ago and now they were somewhere in the mountains in Siberia (not one of Kei’s favourite places, he’d decided). The house had moved on its own and in 10 seconds. It still blew his mind.

“Sure thing, doctor,” the guardian stated. He shuffled to the back in one fluid motion, then rested himself on his elbows, so he could stretch both his legs out on the table. His feet were dressed in his usual worn leather sandals. He cast another glance at the healer tending to his leg. She was very pretty. He had noted that before. He’d give her somewhere between 24 and 27 at first glance, but his brief experiences had taught him that hardly anyone in here was truly the age they looked like. Given she was in charge of the place, she must be at a master’s level, or so Kei figured.

“That must be a great ice breaker at parties,” he said with a grin, indicating her glowing eyes. He lifted his eyebrows as a thought occurred to him. “… Unless I just like, insulted some kind of sacred… traditional ability… thing. In which case, I’m sorry.” His grin turned into a sheepish one, hoping she would indulge his spontaneity.

“1812,” Kei repeated flatly. This fact was hard to register. This had been at the start of the previous century. His great-grandfather hadn’t even been born yet. 

“I… Yes, 1975. That’s quite right,” he responded with a couple of affirmative nods. It baffled him that she pondered what year it was like one might be mistaken for which day of the week it was. When one grew well into centuries, Kei figured that the passing of a year was probably different to them than it was to someone who aged normally.

“Some people are a bit touchy about their age, I probably wouldn’t ask everyone you see.” She bent down, reaching for a bottle and some cotton in the same little stool from before. She swished the liquid around a bit before soaking the cotton ball in it. It was a dark brown liquid that smelled like something medicinal. “But I don’t mind. I’m actually…um.” She stays quiet a minute, as she tries to do some mental math. As she mumbles numbers under her breath, she presses the cotton softly on the cut. It’s cool to touch and the contact sticks a little, but the contact is soft so the pain isn’t unbearable. “192. No, wait, 191. I’ll be turning 192 at the end of this year. I was almost 30 when this room came to exist for me. I’m actually usually in the water wing.”

“191?” Kei echoed, his eyebrows going aloft again, a lot more surprised than when he was informed of the lack of parties. That was nearly two centuries ago. He observed the healer with large eyes, who looked no older than he was. “191,” he repeated flatly. “Gosh. Well hey, still looking good!” He laughed a little, giving her thumbs up, or as much as he could leaning on his elbows. His grin turned wider as she returned the compliment about his hair. “Thanks!” he expressed enthusiastically. “I got my dad’s hair. I’m pretty happy about that.”

Kei chuckled, observing the shift in her behavior. It was charming. He liked her. He tried to glance at his leg, tilting it so he could get a look at his leg. He saw brown stains from where Atkanah had dabbed the liquid on it. “Hmm… Leg fixed completely in a couple of hours, or getting stitches…” He shifted his head from one way to the other, as if he was debating on what the best choice would be. “Think I’ll go with the complete session. I don’t have anywhere to be anyway. … Maybe I should tell my patron though…” he added as an afterthought. “But he’ll probably know where to find me. He was there.”

“You got good eyes, doc.” he went on as she inquired about being cut by a weapon. ‘Aside from them glowing I mean. Yeah, I uhh… sorta cut myself in the leg.” The guardian hunched his shoulders a little, looking embarrassed. “Made a bit of a wrong move there. I use swords. Odachi. Sorta katana shaped?” he explained, using his finger to illustrate the shape of the blade. Whatever information he could provide that would help her.

“Alright, then let’s get started. Mu, if you please.” As she said this, she reached for one of the beds. One the one right next to the wall was a big, furry… dog, is what it looked like, seemingly sleeping. However, it took only that short statement to get it to pick its head up and yawn, turning into a sphere of yellow light a second later. Like the first one, this one hurtled itself towards Atkanah and melded against her skin, this time at her fingertips where her golden marks looked like rings around her fingers. The bands began to shine, giving her hands a soft glow. “I’ve been around plenty of weapon induced wounds. I know my share.” She reached for Kei’s leg and touched the affected area softly. Her touch was warm, especially on those spots where her skin glowed.

She was quiet for a moment, seemingly concentrating on the task at hand, before she spoke up again. “It’s… not that we don’t have parties, per se. I guess it’s more like… it has to be something big to be celebrated in a house-wide way. Birthdays are, for one, are very small celebrations. If we threw a party every time someone had a birthday, we’d have to celebrate almost every day, sometimes more than once a day. There’s just too many people, and funds are tight.” 

She didn’t make any comment about his compliments, though she was certainly very pleased with herself. he seemed like a sweet man and his words seemed genuine. He was a bit of a spazz, but he spoke rather often and very fondly of his family. She thought it was endearing. “There’s no shame in it. I know even the best get hurt by their own hand. My own guardian, Melton, has come to me with cuts and bruises when he’s started to work a weapon he’s not yet an expert on.” She looked up at him. Now that she was on the healing part, there was no use to keep her eyes on the wound. The glow hadn’t faded on her irises. “It’s just a matter of growing your skill set through patience and plenty of practice.”

“That makes sense,” Kei agreed, nodding. “I’m not too worried. I’ve only just gotten here. To be honest I’m still pretty surprised I ended up here at all, and so suddenly too. It’s not every day that a large whale approaches you and tells you they’re a spiritual being.” He scratched his temple and shook a couple of dreads behind his shoulder. “So I don’t plan on turning into a master swordsman somewhere next week.”

Intruiged, he observed how her magic fingers worked on his leg. While sometimes it still stung when she touched the injury, mostly it was warm, like the noon sun shining down on his calves. He silently noted that is was peculiar she did everything with her bare hands. In previous circumstances when he’d been in a hospital, doctor’s nearly always wore latex gloves. Kei figured all the magic-y things probably didn’t require gloves and was probably sterile on its own. It never ceased to astound him.

“So you have a guardian?” he went on, striking up conversation. He paused for a moment, realizing that maybe that was a ridiculous thing to day, because: “Well of course you’d have a guardian, you are 191 years old, I figure you’d find one in that timespan. But you know, I hang out with the new kids most of the time and none of us have any wizards, so that’s all new stuff to us.” He grinned sheepishly, hunching his shoulders a little. He wondered if the guardian was her husband, since that seemed to be the case for a lot of wizard-guardian duos in this place.

“Don’t be fooled, the fact that I’m old doesn’t mean I have to have a guardian. Some wizards choose never to take one. Some have a hard time finding someone who’s a good match for them. I have a… cousin, I suppose, who is older than me and hasn’t found a guardian yet who can match her pace.” She looks away again, focusing on his leg. “And sometimes guardians die. A partnership like that isn’t easy to replace.”

Kei wondered if maybe this Melton she mentioned wasn’t her first guardian, and that her previous words implied she once had a guardian, who’d passed. He wouldn’t ask her, it’d be too rude of him. After all, she barely knew him, and vice versa. He could only phanthom what it was like to lose someone so direly important. It was something he couldn’t quite imagine yet, to be so close to a person to share your lifespan with them. He wondered if he’d ever be capable to found such a friendship. Time would tell.

He had to admit he was rather impressed with her. She talked with mannerisms that seemed a little old fashioned, and with the hint she had experienced things vastly major to anyone else who looked the age she did. He would probably need a little time to wrap his head around the idea that a lot of people in here were a lot older than they looked. Nevertheless, he found it intriguing and came to the conclusion that he was really enjoying her company.

“Will do,” Kei promised with a click of his tongue and a good-natured wink as she mentioned if at one point he would be uncomfortable with talking about something. He was quite content with how easy it seemed to be to talk to her. She appeared to be very sincere, which he could appreciate.

He looked down at his leg again, having to squint his eyes a little as he looked at her luminescent hands. If someone had told him a month ago that he’d suffered a leg injury with a sword, and he’d be fixed up by magic hands –literally magic hands- he’d have laughed and pointed out what a funny story that was. But here he was, in a world where enchanted glowing light was nothing if not relatively ordinary. The young guardian listened attentively as she explained what was going to happen to his leg later.

She was touched by his thankful words. Truthfully, it wasn’t every day that she felt her talents appreciated. People were so used to her being there and doing things, they sometimes neglected to express their thanks in such an articulate way. This was especially true of the newer recruits, both wizards and guardians with or without Redstone blood in them, who thought her vocation more of a paid job than something born out of love and need. 

She stepped back a little, straightening her skirt as she tried to smooth down the wrinkles that had creased with her leaning down to work on his leg. “You’re quite welcome.” Suddenly, the dog creature and the skeleton were back, standing beside their wizards. The furry animal didn’t hesitate to hope up back on the bed it had been perched on before being called to action, curling up again to sleep. Surely, it had grown tired with having to work on the healing. The skeleton placed a hand on her shoulder, addressing her as if the other person wasn’t in the room. “You should eat something, Atkanah. It is past lunch time and you’ve yet to eat anything besides breakfast. I can stay here with Mr. Kahele until you get back.”

“Holy shit,” he blurted on impulse, before he quickly slapped a hand on his mouth, as though he could put it back inside his mouth. He cast an apologetic look at the healer next to the table. “Sorry,” he said, scratching his temple, “That came out before I could stop it. But man, that is incredible!” Kei moved his leg a second time, angling his leg differently so he could observe it from that side. “It looks nearly healed already!”

Upon her suggestion to use the bed rather than the table, he nodded, and carefully swung his legs from the table. Carefully, he put his good leg on the floor, then gingerly tested his injured leg. It was still sore, but not as much as it’d been as when he first came in.

The guardian’s attention was drawn back to Atkanah’s spirit when they re-emerged. The dog-like creature was adorable, but he had to admit the talking and moving skeleton was still creeping him out a little, in spite of appearing completely polite.

“Oh no no, I don’t mind at all,” Kei assured, gesturing his hands about for emphasis. “I’ll be just fine, thanks. I’ll just crash on that bed there and rest a little. You should definitely go eat something, working like that must’ve taken a lot out of you.” Upon her question whether or not he’d eaten, he realized he hadn’t had any lunch. It had been the plan to eat somethign after his sword training, but due to his accident, obviously he hadn’t thought about it. Nor had he been hungry.

“No, not at all,” he said upon her inquiry whether or not he ate meat. “No allergies that I’m aware of. I’m pretty good at digesting things.” He sent another grin her way, shrugging a little. “I’m not picky.”

Next, he headed into the direction of the bed that had been indicated to him and limped his way there. His limp had turned more into something of a comical hop. Once there, Kei sat down on it and tested the bed springs. He pulled an approving face.

The young guardian looked sideways at the small dog, who had settled in its bed next to his. If it had been an ordinary pooch, Kei would have extended a hand to see if it was friendly. By all means, this one looked friendly, but it wasn’t an actual dog. It was probably even far older than he was. Nevertheless, Kei was curious, and he liked the shape the spirit had chosen, so he gently extended a hand, leaving it to hover at a safe distance from the doggy spirit, so it could choose for itself whether or not it found Kei’s hand interesting.

However, he jumped a little when all of a sudden the skeletal spirit was near his bed again. He still found its appearance a little unsettling and he could only guess why it had chosen to take this shape. Kei figured he’d just have to get used to it.

“No prescription drugs,” he informed, shaking his head for emphasis. “Strong as a bull.” He grinned and chuckled, but his grin got a little lodged once Haza went on. “Uhh...” Kei paused for a second, then went on, “Recreational drugs... I smoked weed a couple of times, that’s happened.” 

He hoped this was in no way an issue. Everything seemed so formal around here, he hoped this wouldn’t go on any records that would put him in a bad light or something. Somewhat warily, he eyed the clipboard the spirit was holding. “But no, I am not taking them now, nor did I use them very frequently in the past, only one some occasions. It was ordinary weed, so marihuana.” Another sheepish grin, “It’s the seveties,” he added, as per justification.

“Jacqueline had an anniversary thing,” he explained while he made his way back to the kitchen table and sat down at it. “So I gave her the weekend off. She made a fuss about it of course. But I told her that if she complained one more time that fine, I was gonna give her the work anyways and then she stopped talking pretty quickly.” He browsed through the mail, sorting bills from commercial folders. He snorted when she mentioned the interns.

“Whenever it’s ready is fine,” he commented on her question about the food. “I could eat.” He looked away from the letter and leaned back to try and catch a glimpse of what she had in there, but it was gone again too fast. 

He raised his eyebrows at her statement about bringing interns to tears. He didn’t even blink an eye. “Well you’re not wrong,” Fred told her audaciously. He tossed the bill on the table, then stretched his arms to the back to rid the strain on his arm and back muscles. He ended his stretch with a long sigh.

“I guess I should go ahead and pay these and be done with it,” he muttered. He got up from the chair and retraced his steps to the hall, where he picked up his bag, and returned to the kitchen with it. Fred withdrew his laptop from it and sat back down while he started it up. He scratched his cheek while he observed the loading screen.

Everything about her day seemed normal, until she mentioned downtown New York. Anza had been correct in her thoughts, because that did rouse his attention. He looked up from the screen, and slowly moved his head to look at her. He observed how she stood there, next to the table.

“You ‘talked to some people’,” Fred repeated, his face and voice deadpan.

A pause.

The frown on his face unfolded, and it made room for a brief moment of surprise. He hadn’t expected that to be the reason, but only seconds later, Fred realized it actually didn’t surprise him at all. It was just like Anza to go check up on the little girl to make sure she was doing okay. She always got so easily attached to things and people. He was probably the prime example of that notion, which, in the end, had been a good thing.

“Not just situation, probably,” Fred added, leaning his face in one hand, and his elbow on the table. The other one was tapping idly on his keyboard. He wasn’t good at focussing intently on two things at the same time, and for now the conversation had taken up most of it. “The demigod factor also tends to make some kids more isolated. Especially considering our suspicions about her father.”

Fred went quiet a second, his eyes staring at nothing as he remembered the unexpected manifestation of the powers of the child -called Dhara apparently- and how rather… alarming they’d been. No wonder she had attracted monsters at such a young age. “… Hades or Pluto children tend to have this… vibe about them. If you’re not used to it, I imagine it can be a little unsettling.” It was something Fred hadn’t really experienced himself, having grown up with Ben as he had, but he’d witnessed it happening around camp, or people his cousin interacted with.

“I already did. Chiron (are we using Chiron? I don’t wanna use Theseus, fuck that) seemed… conflicted. Three years old is a lot younger than they usually deal with at camp. Youngest are usually closer to the ten year old mark. Lids are a lot more self sufficient by that point and don’t need as much one on one attention. He said he’d look into it and keep me informed.” She paused for a moment, watching as Fred typed things into his computer. She tapped her foot against the floor “I don’t know how long that sort of thing would take…”

“They’ll figure something out,” he assured. Meanwhile, he’d pulled out his card and was now fiddling with it in order to get the payment done. “They’re best suited to decide what course of action to take.”

Silence after that. While Fred continued to fill in the correct data, he glanced at his girlfriend every now and then. Indeed, he could tell she was mulling something over. She appeared tense and antsy. He sighed privately. She had probably gotten too emotionally invested and was now stuck worrying about the little girl.

Silence after that, but Fred left it, and ate. He figured Anza was still stewing over the Hades child, and probably would be so until they received news from Chiron that they’d taken the little girl in.

He was already halfway through his meal when she put her knife and fork down. Fred had noticed during his eating that she’d hardly touched her food. He glanced up at her face. She looked hesitant, and he knew something was coming.

He was right. After Anza was done talking to him, Fred stared at her. By all means, he would say it was a joke. But since he’d lived with the Demter child for a while, he knew this was a matter she would not be cracking funnies about.

Esperanza took a deep breath, swallowing a bit of her indignation at his reaction and letting herself calm down a little. She put her hands beside her plate, looking intently at the pieces of chicken she’d cut up. “Ok, fine, let’s… leave the gods out of this. This isn’t about them and there’s nothing they can do about it.” She looked up at him again, lips pressed into a tight line, jaw clenched tight.“What part scares you more, the ‘demigod’ part, the ‘Big Three’ part, or the ‘child’ part? Because if it’s what I think it is, I guess we should address the elephant in the room, Fred.” 

“That is not...” Fred began, before his voice trailed away. He threw a glance at Anza, but immediately looked away again, avoiding her eyes. He’d realized a little too late how his words might’ve come across to her, and he had to admit he had not thought them through much. Which was often the case whenever he got a little too worked up. This wasn’t helping any; Fred could feel his stress levels rising, and he wanted to avoid a conversation like this. It’d been plenty difficult and draining in the past, and it didn’t need to be raked up again in his opinion.

“That is not what I meant,” he went on after a moment to recollect his thoughts. He was still avoiding to look at her, instead picking up his fork again and moving it around in the chicken on his plate. The fidgetting became apparent. “What I am saying, is that we are in no way accommodated to house a child. Other than that, I don’t think two demigods are the best option to raise a Big Three child. If anything, it’d only intensify her presence like a beacon, because we’d be there to enhance it. A mortal parent, or any mortal, cloaks a bit of their aura, at least.”

At this point, Fred had begun to gesticulate with his fork, emphasising his words as he made his point. “And furthermore,” he continued, “it just seems very... by lack of a better word, random.”

His eyebrows had knit together and his multicoloured eyes were roaming across the table, as though he was collecting his arguments from there. Throughout his explanation, he could feel he was getting worked up again. This time, he did look up at her. “I’m not saying all this to pick a fight,” he said, his fork flying to the side this time, “The idea seems very far-fetched, and surreal. I don’t understand why it has to be us.” He shook his head a little in a confused motion, once more emphasising how hard it was for him to wrap his mind around it. “Camp Halfblood is a better suited place and a safer environment for a demigod child. And if I need to bring up another argument, I don’t want to.”

Outside, campers were laughing, playing. Birds were chirping, pegasi were whinnying in the distance. To Louis, it could might as well have been a completely different world. One he didn’t belong to. The empty hospital wing was like a bunker, set into another dimension. He might as well be lying on the dirty hard ground he’d been lying on about 60-something hours prior. None of the softness of the mattress, blankets or pillows were getting through to him. His mind was locked in a strange setting of denial, rage and sadness. He didn’t seem able to pick a feature, didn’t know whether he wanted to cry or punch something. It was a very strange experience, because he wasn’t used to having these feelings on the regular. That realization didn’t help him any either, and made him feel even more depressed.

It was incredibly surreal and weird. His brain told him that his leg was still there. He could feel it. It hurt. But one glance, one pat, told him that is wasn’t. He tried not to think about that, preferred the idea that if it hurt, it was really still there and this was really all just a horrible nightmare that he’d wake up from any minute now. Any minute now.

Louis turned on his side. Maybe the aching would stop if he did. Undergoing the absence of leg weight was strange. He was facing his nightstand now, looking away from the door. A large bouquet of flowers perched on it. Thyme had brought them for him, having gotten to camp as soon as she could with the portal watch she had. She’d gone back some time ago to go inform his mother about his accident. It was something Louis both dreaded and looked forward to. His mom would be so saddened, but at the same time he longed for the comfort of her presence. Amongst the flowers were other things: muffins, cookies, a book, his mythomagic card set that Juli had brought in. Nothing about that seemed appealing right now, or possessed the ability to put him in a good mood.

Her subsequent visits had been more tame. Louis had stabilized, but he’d spent much of that time unconscious, recuperating. He visits had been short, mostly to watch him worriedly for a few minutes before leaving. She couldn’t stand him just being there so lifeless. It was so unlike him, and it scared her a little.

They’d told her that he was awake on and off now, but she wasn’t yet expecting much out of her visit. She had previously brought him snacks from breakfast, lunch and dinner, but they had only piled up and gotten stale on his table, so this time she came in with nothing. 

Louis turned his head, locating Jordan in the room, making her way towards him. He felt his stomach drop. Not because he didn’t want her there, but mostly because of the fact he hadn’t seen her before. Every time someone came to see him for the first time, it was the same scenario. They were in shock, some nearly in tears. Some didn’t know how to behave, or did their very best to avoid bringing up his lost leg, probably in an attempt to distract him from it, pretending it was no problem. It was never a pleasant experience. 

“Hey.” Despite the fact that she’d wanted him to be awake, not that he was, she wasn’t sure of what to say.All the plans and rehearsed conversations she had flew out the window. She wasn’t very good at this talking thing. “I finally managed to catch you awake.” She placed her hands on the side of the bed, over the sheets as she watched him.

“Yeah. Sorry…” Louis responded, his voice monotone. He turned back to watching the ceiling. In any other occasion, he would have elaborated. But much like her, he didn’t know what to say. What could he even say? He had no idea. His brain seemed a little numb too. When Jordan touched his arm, it was something that, by all means, would have surprised him. Whenever she touched him, it was usually to shove him, albeit that had decreased gradually over the years. Still, it didn’t happen a lot. But again, he experienced in a rather mild manner.

The Hephaestus son blinked for a moment as she mentioned his loss. It was the first time someone had phrased it like that. It sounded a little odd, because to him, it was a phrase that he associated with someone losing someone dear to them. Not so much a limb. It was kind of a strange feeling, because yes, it did feel as though he had lost someone dear, even though that dear thing was something that used to belong to his body. He hadn’t really thought about it that way.

“I don’t know…” he told her honestly upon her inquiry how he was feeling. He added a little shrug to it. “Angry, sad. But at the same time also nothing.”

Louis hooked his right arm beneath his pillow and lifted it, rearranging his head on it to be more comfortable. It didn’t help much. He was drained, but tense at the same time, as though his body wasn’t allowing him to get comfortable, but at the same time needed the rest. While the nectar and ambrosia had done its part in healing most of the superficial injuries, he’d also suffered a lot of bruises and a sprained wrist. He’d probably landed on his hand wrong trying to get away from the falling debris, and his back was covered with black spots.

He moved his eyes away from the ceiling momentarily as he heard Jordan shuffle around, observing how she picked up a chair as though it was a cardboard box. When she spoke up next, Louis squinted his eyes a little while he turned back to the ceiling.

“Well it’s definitely not any less worse,” he snapped, turning rather harshly on his side, away from her. Retribution followed suit because there was a painful pang in his shoulder and he winced. Only seconds later, he was aware that even he himself was not used to this snark in his voice, which made him feel guilty, which -in turn- made him feel angry with himself. He didn’t like what this was doing to him, but he couldn’t shake it off.

Louis was quiet for a while, lying there, facing the wall. He rubbed one of his eyes with the palm of his hand after noticing his eyes had begun to sting. He took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, trying to calm down. He lay there for another moment, before he turned on his back again, facing the ceiling once more.

“Sorry,” he said a second time. Another pause, while his eyes ran across the ceiling. A ray of sunshine was cast upon it, entering from the window.

Suzanne sat anxiously, with her legs crossed and with one leg jumping up and down against the floor. One of her arms held onto a leash while the other one supported her chin as she tried not to look around too much. This wasn’t her environment at all, full of animals and weird smells and barking. Petunia, her boxer mix, didn’t seem at all bothered by the fact they were surrounded by other dogs, a squawking bird and a nervous, hissing cat. There was even a bigass turtle with a leash around its shell by the end of the hallway. In fact, the dog was pretty ecstatic to be out and about with her owner and to be so surrounded by friendly animals. Suzanne, on the other hand, was a bit mortified to be seen with her dog. It wasn’t that she didn’t like her dog, but she could feel the looks passersby gave her once they gave Petunia a quick glance. The bright red marks that she hadn’t been able to rub out of her snout were pretty obviously not supposed to be there.

This deep voice emerged from the veterinarian’s office as its door opened and a man in green scrubs -most likely the vet- showed out a young man with a massive grey Great Dane. The two of them exchanged a few more pleasantries, then shook hands. The guy with the dog left the waiting room and the doctor turned his attention to the other people in there.

“Alright, next please— In a bit, Mrs. Gellerman,” the vet interrupted himself upon noticing the elderly woman with the leashed turtle had gotten up from her seat and made an attempt to speak to him. “I will see to you and George in a while. When it’s your turn, I promise I will give him my undivided attention.” He raised his eyebrows and inclined his head at her, in a whimsical, yet dismissive way, so his gesture remained polite. It worked, and the woman sat back down, waving her hands about in theatrical apologies.

“Alright then,” the doctor went on, turning to Suzanne this time. “I believe you are next, ma’am.” His eyes systematically fell on the dog that was with her. Unsurprisingly, his eyebrows went aloft upon witnessing the pet’s peculiar state. He didn’t comment on it just yet, instead invited Suzanne and the dog inside the practice.

“Please come in,” he said politely, showing her the way in and holding the door open for her. Once inside, he closed it, and positioned himself behind the stainless steel examination table.

“And nice to meet you too, Petunia,” Aaron greeted the dog as it came to investigate him. He held out his hand for her to sniff, allowing the dog to familiarize herself with him. “I’m going to take a wild guess and assume you’ve come here for… this?” He gestured at the pooch’s mouth, where the bright pink stains of lipstick still stuck to the fur. “Lipstick, I would guess. Unless you do this on the regular, so you and Petunia would match. Which you are free to do in your own time of course, but as a vet, I don’t recommend it. It’s not toxic, but still, not recommended.”

Upon her mention of the paperwork, Aaron briefly left the dog on the table and went over to his desk. There, he retrieved the mentioned paperwork, which his assistant had left there sometime before Suzanne had come in. While he returned, his dark eyes scanned the sheet, indeed noticing that not everything was filled in.

“No matter,” Aaron shrugged off good-naturedly, putting the sheet on the table. “This happens all the time, no need to worry.” He picked up a small flashlight from the counter where he’d gotten his gloves from, then turned back to the dog. Carefully, he put his fingers in Petunia’s mouth and pulled it open, using a couple of fingers to use the flashlight and look inside. “So you got her at 4 weeks old? That is relatively early. Did you adopt her from a shelter, or took her from someone else? Sheltered animals should all have received the necessary vaccinations.” He glanced briefly at Petunia’s owner, who had occupied herself with twirling her hair. He had to note she was quite pretty. She also appeared a little nervous, but he assumed that was because of her dog. Clients tended to be a little antsy when their pets were being examined.

Aaron pulled a pen out of his breast pocket and made a couple of notes on a small notebook that lay in a corner of the steel table. “Yeah, no need to worry about the stains. They’ll be gone soon enough when she drinks or licks. The fur will make it wash out with a bit more difficulty than it does on human skin. It shouldn’t leave any damage.”

He left the pen on the table, then scratched Petunia behind the ears. “As far as the vaccinations go, I can give her the necessary shots right now if you’d like. It doesn’t really matter whether or not she’s already received them in the past. It’s better to be safe than sorry.” Privately, he wondered where the mixed dog had come from. Nowhere dodgy he hoped, which was one of his biggest pet peeves, since incorrectly bred dogs often ended up with a lot of health problems. At least Petunia’s owner seemed to genuinely care about her pet, considering she’d brought her in so quickly after being confronted with the dog’s unconventional snack.

His praise did fill her with pride, but it also gave her a little guilt. And anger. After all, she hadn’t been the one to look after Petunia up until now. “Thank you. She’s my only roommate now. Girls have to look after each other, after all.” She reached out to scratch her dog’s back for a little, chewing on her bottom lip for a bit. 

Kei had never known a scenario where a skeleton came to life was a good one. But then again, not too long ago he had been approached by a glowing blue orb that turned out to be a spiritual whale who he had now befriended. So in that retrospect, a living skeleton shouldn’t freak him out too much.

He goggled at the spirit -assuming it was a spirit- as it headed for a door near the desk, explaining. Kei wondered if he was supposed to follow. He wasn’t moving that fast anyway, so he decided to limp towards the door where the skeleton was calling for someone. The guardian furrowed two confused eyebrows at the spirit. How on earth did it know he was from Hawaii? THE kid from Hawaii apaprently. Kei was pretty sure he would have remembered meeting a moving skeleton before. Unless he’d been clobbered on the head, he was quite certain he’d never seen this guy before, but apparently that wasn’t vice versa.

The table in question was a long, wooden table in the middle of the room. It was extremely flat and rather plain. The texture on the surface was marred by small indents where sharp objects had dug in close to the corners, but the rest of the surface had been polished smooth, no doubt by other people sitting on it much like how Kei was being asked to at the moment.

This done, Kei took a moment to observe the room, looking at the various items on display, and plants he had never seen before in his life. What a peculiar place.

As he heard movement, he turned his head in the direction of the door, which he saw had been opened. Kei grinned when he saw the woman approach. He knew he’d been right, he recognized her from the last time he needed medical assistance.

“Ey, no problem!” he insisted, waving graciously with his hand, “This is nothing, this one time I had to take my cousin to the ER because he got a fish hook in his finger -long story- but it took forever before a doctor came. This is a breeze.” He grinned a second time as she searched for his name. “Yeah, it’s Kei. Good job remembering, I bet it must be tough. There’s so many people here and if everyone is like… two-hundred years old, then I guess they just keep on coming don’t they?” he chatted on.

When her spirit handed her the file, she gently placed it on a small tool cart next to the table before turning to Kei again. She laughed a little at his ‘confused and disoriented’ comment. “Don’t feel bad. You’re not the first, and certainly not the last, person who will end up being dragged inside the house injured and with no clue as to what’s happening. That goes for wizards, guardians and otherwise, though I’ll admit that it happens to more guardians than any other category. They’re also a bit harder to remember the names of, considering they come from all over the world.”

As she spoke, she crouched down a little so she could begin inspecting the damage on his leg. She reached out for a towel that might’ve been white at some point but could be now best described as beige with wear and tear, which was sitting on the same cart where his file had been placed. She dipped it in a small bowl of water, wrung it dry and then proceeded to start cleaning around the injury, making sure to keep her touches light but steady. She glanced up at him.

As the skeleton returned with his file, Kei eyed the paper curiously, trying to catch a glimpse of what it might say. But all he saw was the front with his name on it, so that was not particularly exciting. He nodded his agreement as she talked about guardians from all over the place. He couldn’t agree more, in fact, because he’d just been in Hawaii a couple of weeks ago and now they were somewhere in the mountains in Siberia (not one of Kei’s favourite places, he’d decided). The house had moved on its own and in 10 seconds. It still blew his mind.

“Sure thing, doctor,” the guardian stated. He shuffled to the back in one fluid motion, then rested himself on his elbows, so he could stretch both his legs out on the table. His feet were dressed in his usual worn leather sandals. He cast another glance at the healer tending to his leg. She was very pretty. He had noted that before. He’d give her somewhere between 24 and 27 at first glance, but his brief experiences had taught him that hardly anyone in here was truly the age they looked like. Given she was in charge of the place, she must be at a master’s level, or so Kei figured.

“That must be a great ice breaker at parties,” he said with a grin, indicating her glowing eyes. He lifted his eyebrows as a thought occurred to him. “… Unless I just like, insulted some kind of sacred… traditional ability… thing. In which case, I’m sorry.” His grin turned into a sheepish one, hoping she would indulge his spontaneity.

“1812,” Kei repeated flatly. This fact was hard to register. This had been at the start of the previous century. His great-grandfather hadn’t even been born yet. 

“I… Yes, 1975. That’s quite right,” he responded with a couple of affirmative nods. It baffled him that she pondered what year it was like one might be mistaken for which day of the week it was. When one grew well into centuries, Kei figured that the passing of a year was probably different to them than it was to someone who aged normally.

“Some people are a bit touchy about their age, I probably wouldn’t ask everyone you see.” She bent down, reaching for a bottle and some cotton in the same little stool from before. She swished the liquid around a bit before soaking the cotton ball in it. It was a dark brown liquid that smelled like something medicinal. “But I don’t mind. I’m actually…um.” She stays quiet a minute, as she tries to do some mental math. As she mumbles numbers under her breath, she presses the cotton softly on the cut. It’s cool to touch and the contact sticks a little, but the contact is soft so the pain isn’t unbearable. “192. No, wait, 191. I’ll be turning 192 at the end of this year. I was almost 30 when this room came to exist for me. I’m actually usually in the water wing.”

“191?” Kei echoed, his eyebrows going aloft again, a lot more surprised than when he was informed of the lack of parties. That was nearly two centuries ago. He observed the healer with large eyes, who looked no older than he was. “191,” he repeated flatly. “Gosh. Well hey, still looking good!” He laughed a little, giving her thumbs up, or as much as he could leaning on his elbows. His grin turned wider as she returned the compliment about his hair. “Thanks!” he expressed enthusiastically. “I got my dad’s hair. I’m pretty happy about that.”

Kei chuckled, observing the shift in her behavior. It was charming. He liked her. He tried to glance at his leg, tilting it so he could get a look at his leg. He saw brown stains from where Atkanah had dabbed the liquid on it. “Hmm… Leg fixed completely in a couple of hours, or getting stitches…” He shifted his head from one way to the other, as if he was debating on what the best choice would be. “Think I’ll go with the complete session. I don’t have anywhere to be anyway. … Maybe I should tell my patron though…” he added as an afterthought. “But he’ll probably know where to find me. He was there.”

“You got good eyes, doc.” he went on as she inquired about being cut by a weapon. ‘Aside from them glowing I mean. Yeah, I uhh… sorta cut myself in the leg.” The guardian hunched his shoulders a little, looking embarrassed. “Made a bit of a wrong move there. I use swords. Odachi. Sorta katana shaped?” he explained, using his finger to illustrate the shape of the blade. Whatever information he could provide that would help her.

“Alright, then let’s get started. Mu, if you please.” As she said this, she reached for one of the beds. One the one right next to the wall was a big, furry… dog, is what it looked like, seemingly sleeping. However, it took only that short statement to get it to pick its head up and yawn, turning into a sphere of yellow light a second later. Like the first one, this one hurtled itself towards Atkanah and melded against her skin, this time at her fingertips where her golden marks looked like rings around her fingers. The bands began to shine, giving her hands a soft glow. “I’ve been around plenty of weapon induced wounds. I know my share.” She reached for Kei’s leg and touched the affected area softly. Her touch was warm, especially on those spots where her skin glowed.

She was quiet for a moment, seemingly concentrating on the task at hand, before she spoke up again. “It’s… not that we don’t have parties, per se. I guess it’s more like… it has to be something big to be celebrated in a house-wide way. Birthdays are, for one, are very small celebrations. If we threw a party every time someone had a birthday, we’d have to celebrate almost every day, sometimes more than once a day. There’s just too many people, and funds are tight.” 

She didn’t make any comment about his compliments, though she was certainly very pleased with herself. he seemed like a sweet man and his words seemed genuine. He was a bit of a spazz, but he spoke rather often and very fondly of his family. She thought it was endearing. “There’s no shame in it. I know even the best get hurt by their own hand. My own guardian, Melton, has come to me with cuts and bruises when he’s started to work a weapon he’s not yet an expert on.” She looked up at him. Now that she was on the healing part, there was no use to keep her eyes on the wound. The glow hadn’t faded on her irises. “It’s just a matter of growing your skill set through patience and plenty of practice.”

“That makes sense,” Kei agreed, nodding. “I’m not too worried. I’ve only just gotten here. To be honest I’m still pretty surprised I ended up here at all, and so suddenly too. It’s not every day that a large whale approaches you and tells you they’re a spiritual being.” He scratched his temple and shook a couple of dreads behind his shoulder. “So I don’t plan on turning into a master swordsman somewhere next week.”

Intruiged, he observed how her magic fingers worked on his leg. While sometimes it still stung when she touched the injury, mostly it was warm, like the noon sun shining down on his calves. He silently noted that is was peculiar she did everything with her bare hands. In previous circumstances when he’d been in a hospital, doctor’s nearly always wore latex gloves. Kei figured all the magic-y things probably didn’t require gloves and was probably sterile on its own. It never ceased to astound him.

“So you have a guardian?” he went on, striking up conversation. He paused for a moment, realizing that maybe that was a ridiculous thing to day, because: “Well of course you’d have a guardian, you are 191 years old, I figure you’d find one in that timespan. But you know, I hang out with the new kids most of the time and none of us have any wizards, so that’s all new stuff to us.” He grinned sheepishly, hunching his shoulders a little. He wondered if the guardian was her husband, since that seemed to be the case for a lot of wizard-guardian duos in this place.

“Don’t be fooled, the fact that I’m old doesn’t mean I have to have a guardian. Some wizards choose never to take one. Some have a hard time finding someone who’s a good match for them. I have a… cousin, I suppose, who is older than me and hasn’t found a guardian yet who can match her pace.” She looks away again, focusing on his leg. “And sometimes guardians die. A partnership like that isn’t easy to replace.”

Kei wondered if maybe this Melton she mentioned wasn’t her first guardian, and that her previous words implied she once had a guardian, who’d passed. He wouldn’t ask her, it’d be too rude of him. After all, she barely knew him, and vice versa. He could only phanthom what it was like to lose someone so direly important. It was something he couldn’t quite imagine yet, to be so close to a person to share your lifespan with them. He wondered if he’d ever be capable to found such a friendship. Time would tell.

He had to admit he was rather impressed with her. She talked with mannerisms that seemed a little old fashioned, and with the hint she had experienced things vastly major to anyone else who looked the age she did. He would probably need a little time to wrap his head around the idea that a lot of people in here were a lot older than they looked. Nevertheless, he found it intriguing and came to the conclusion that he was really enjoying her company.

“Will do,” Kei promised with a click of his tongue and a good-natured wink as she mentioned if at one point he would be uncomfortable with talking about something. He was quite content with how easy it seemed to be to talk to her. She appeared to be very sincere, which he could appreciate.

He looked down at his leg again, having to squint his eyes a little as he looked at her luminescent hands. If someone had told him a month ago that he’d suffered a leg injury with a sword, and he’d be fixed up by magic hands –literally magic hands- he’d have laughed and pointed out what a funny story that was. But here he was, in a world where enchanted glowing light was nothing if not relatively ordinary. The young guardian listened attentively as she explained what was going to happen to his leg later.

She was touched by his thankful words. Truthfully, it wasn’t every day that she felt her talents appreciated. People were so used to her being there and doing things, they sometimes neglected to express their thanks in such an articulate way. This was especially true of the newer recruits, both wizards and guardians with or without Redstone blood in them, who thought her vocation more of a paid job than something born out of love and need. 

She stepped back a little, straightening her skirt as she tried to smooth down the wrinkles that had creased with her leaning down to work on his leg. “You’re quite welcome.” Suddenly, the dog creature and the skeleton were back, standing beside their wizards. The furry animal didn’t hesitate to hope up back on the bed it had been perched on before being called to action, curling up again to sleep. Surely, it had grown tired with having to work on the healing. The skeleton placed a hand on her shoulder, addressing her as if the other person wasn’t in the room. “You should eat something, Atkanah. It is past lunch time and you’ve yet to eat anything besides breakfast. I can stay here with Mr. Kahele until you get back.”

“Holy shit,” he blurted on impulse, before he quickly slapped a hand on his mouth, as though he could put it back inside his mouth. He cast an apologetic look at the healer next to the table. “Sorry,” he said, scratching his temple, “That came out before I could stop it. But man, that is incredible!” Kei moved his leg a second time, angling his leg differently so he could observe it from that side. “It looks nearly healed already!”

Upon her suggestion to use the bed rather than the table, he nodded, and carefully swung his legs from the table. Carefully, he put his good leg on the floor, then gingerly tested his injured leg. It was still sore, but not as much as it’d been as when he first came in.

The guardian’s attention was drawn back to Atkanah’s spirit when they re-emerged. The dog-like creature was adorable, but he had to admit the talking and moving skeleton was still creeping him out a little, in spite of appearing completely polite.

“Oh no no, I don’t mind at all,” Kei assured, gesturing his hands about for emphasis. “I’ll be just fine, thanks. I’ll just crash on that bed there and rest a little. You should definitely go eat something, working like that must’ve taken a lot out of you.” Upon her question whether or not he’d eaten, he realized he hadn’t had any lunch. It had been the plan to eat somethign after his sword training, but due to his accident, obviously he hadn’t thought about it. Nor had he been hungry.

“No, not at all,” he said upon her inquiry whether or not he ate meat. “No allergies that I’m aware of. I’m pretty good at digesting things.” He sent another grin her way, shrugging a little. “I’m not picky.”

Next, he headed into the direction of the bed that had been indicated to him and limped his way there. His limp had turned more into something of a comical hop. Once there, Kei sat down on it and tested the bed springs. He pulled an approving face.

The young guardian looked sideways at the small dog, who had settled in its bed next to his. If it had been an ordinary pooch, Kei would have extended a hand to see if it was friendly. By all means, this one looked friendly, but it wasn’t an actual dog. It was probably even far older than he was. Nevertheless, Kei was curious, and he liked the shape the spirit had chosen, so he gently extended a hand, leaving it to hover at a safe distance from the doggy spirit, so it could choose for itself whether or not it found Kei’s hand interesting.

However, he jumped a little when all of a sudden the skeletal spirit was near his bed again. He still found its appearance a little unsettling and he could only guess why it had chosen to take this shape. Kei figured he’d just have to get used to it.

“Jacqueline had an anniversary thing,” he explained while he made his way back to the kitchen table and sat down at it. “So I gave her the weekend off. She made a fuss about it of course. But I told her that if she complained one more time that fine, I was gonna give her the work anyways and then she stopped talking pretty quickly.” He browsed through the mail, sorting bills from commercial folders. He snorted when she mentioned the interns.

“Whenever it’s ready is fine,” he commented on her question about the food. “I could eat.” He looked away from the letter and leaned back to try and catch a glimpse of what she had in there, but it was gone again too fast. 

He raised his eyebrows at her statement about bringing interns to tears. He didn’t even blink an eye. “Well you’re not wrong,” Fred told her audaciously. He tossed the bill on the table, then stretched his arms to the back to rid the strain on his arm and back muscles. He ended his stretch with a long sigh.

“I guess I should go ahead and pay these and be done with it,” he muttered. He got up from the chair and retraced his steps to the hall, where he picked up his bag, and returned to the kitchen with it. Fred withdrew his laptop from it and sat back down while he started it up. He scratched his cheek while he observed the loading screen.

Everything about her day seemed normal, until she mentioned downtown New York. Anza had been correct in her thoughts, because that did rouse his attention. He looked up from the screen, and slowly moved his head to look at her. He observed how she stood there, next to the table.

“You ‘talked to some people’,” Fred repeated, his face and voice deadpan.

A pause.

The frown on his face unfolded, and it made room for a brief moment of surprise. He hadn’t expected that to be the reason, but only seconds later, Fred realized it actually didn’t surprise him at all. It was just like Anza to go check up on the little girl to make sure she was doing okay. She always got so easily attached to things and people. He was probably the prime example of that notion, which, in the end, had been a good thing.

“Not just situation, probably,” Fred added, leaning his face in one hand, and his elbow on the table. The other one was tapping idly on his keyboard. He wasn’t good at focussing intently on two things at the same time, and for now the conversation had taken up most of it. “The demigod factor also tends to make some kids more isolated. Especially considering our suspicions about her father.”

Fred went quiet a second, his eyes staring at nothing as he remembered the unexpected manifestation of the powers of the child -called Dhara apparently- and how rather… alarming they’d been. No wonder she had attracted monsters at such a young age. “… Hades or Pluto children tend to have this… vibe about them. If you’re not used to it, I imagine it can be a little unsettling.” It was something Fred hadn’t really experienced himself, having grown up with Ben as he had, but he’d witnessed it happening around camp, or people his cousin interacted with.

“I already did. Chiron (are we using Chiron? I don’t wanna use Theseus, fuck that) seemed… conflicted. Three years old is a lot younger than they usually deal with at camp. Youngest are usually closer to the ten year old mark. Lids are a lot more self sufficient by that point and don’t need as much one on one attention. He said he’d look into it and keep me informed.” She paused for a moment, watching as Fred typed things into his computer. She tapped her foot against the floor “I don’t know how long that sort of thing would take…”

“They’ll figure something out,” he assured. Meanwhile, he’d pulled out his card and was now fiddling with it in order to get the payment done. “They’re best suited to decide what course of action to take.”

Silence after that. While Fred continued to fill in the correct data, he glanced at his girlfriend every now and then. Indeed, he could tell she was mulling something over. She appeared tense and antsy. He sighed privately. She had probably gotten too emotionally invested and was now stuck worrying about the little girl.

Silence after that, but Fred left it, and ate. He figured Anza was still stewing over the Hades child, and probably would be so until they received news from Chiron that they’d taken the little girl in.

He was already halfway through his meal when she put her knife and fork down. Fred had noticed during his eating that she’d hardly touched her food. He glanced up at her face. She looked hesitant, and he knew something was coming.

He was right. After Anza was done talking to him, Fred stared at her. By all means, he would say it was a joke. But since he’d lived with the Demter child for a while, he knew this was a matter she would not be cracking funnies about.

Esperanza took a deep breath, swallowing a bit of her indignation at his reaction and letting herself calm down a little. She put her hands beside her plate, looking intently at the pieces of chicken she’d cut up. “Ok, fine, let’s... leave the gods out of this. This isn’t about them and there’s nothing they can do about it.” She looked up at him again, lips pressed into a tight line, jaw clenched tight.“What part scares you more, the ‘demigod’ part, the ‘Big Three’ part, or the ‘child’ part? Because if it’s what I think it is, I guess we should address the elephant in the room, Fred.” 

The entire day had been chaos and he’d hardly seen his wife, who’d been up and about tending to the injured. She hadn’t been in their room, so he figured she was still in the hospital wing. That was exactly where he found her; sitting in a chair  looking tired, and very round.

She gave her husband a worried glance when he mentioned Momi having a difficult time during the day. “A lot of people are feeling out of place right now. I had someone brought over because they tripped on a stool when they were freaking out and sprained their ankle.” She sighed. “I’ll send Mu to check up on her later, just to be sure she’s fiiiIIINE—!” When he bent down to pick her up, it took her by surprise and she almost squeaked her last work out, slapping a hand on her mouth right away to keep her from making too much noise in the middle of the night.Her other arm wrapped around his neck, clinging on for dear life. 

As they walked back into the more domestic side of the house, Atkanah glanced at the photographs on the wall. She’d memorize the spots where the pictures of their own little family were hung at, and she could see them even in the half darkness. “That sounds like a pleasant idea. Rory can probably take care of the room while I’m gone. It’d be a nice vacation…” As they passed through the living room to go into the water wing, she squirmed in his hold. 

“Nyoooomm,” Kei voiced as he promptly made a U-turn without missing a beat, after Atka’s suggestion to visit the kitchen. “No problem Milady. At your request.” He turned his head and lifted his eyebrows at his wife in playful reprimand. “You’re hungry, are you. Really, next time I’m going to bring you some hot meals in. Don’t argue,” he added before she could interject. “You know you’ll enjoy it. Speaking of which,” He lifted his head and narrowed his eyes at the ceiling. “Let me cook you an omelette or something, so you have something warm to eat. Shouldn’t be too much trouble, it doesn’t require a lot of fire. Plus, I can always ask Hikin to help,” he said, referring to his tiny Fire Patron.

When Kei suggested he cook for her, she gave a little displeased sound at the back of her throat. “Kei, I don’t want you to have to cook, it’s too late and it’s been a long, hellish day. You’ve probably had enough today. I can make do with a slice of bread and some goat cheese.” But the mention of an omelette makes he stomach growl faintly and she purses her lips a little, silently cursing the terrible timing of her stomach gurgle.

The guardian grinned boyishly, lifting Atka higher in his arms before he would drop her on the chair. He laughed. “Nani, are you saying we ever stopped feeling like teenagers breaking curfew? It’s what we’re doing right now.” He waggled his eyebrows at her, before he left a few pecks on her lips. “Better make sure papa Johan doesn’t catch us.” His mouth formed a comical ‘o,’ his eyes going large as he pretended to exaggeratedly look around for any parental figures. This done, he carefully lowered his wife onto the chair she had picked out. Once she was seated, he moved around the kitchen, grabbing utensils he needed as he passed by the necessary shelves and drawers. 

The laughter bubbled right out of her as he lifted her higher. “There’s no curfew. And I don’t think we’re gonna get caught.” She grabbed him by the sides of his face, moving her hands up to push his hair back. “Mama is probably more exhausted than me, having to run out into that inferno.” He laughter died down at that comment and it became a little harder to even sustain her smile after that reminder of the day’s tragedy.So many people were unaccounted for, having been lost to the fire.

“Your work was invaluable today,” he told her earnestly while he chose a pan hanging from a hook above his head. He set it down on top of the blue flames and proceeded to chuck a clump of butter in it with a knife. The severity and seriousness of the day had not gone lost on him. It was truly upsetting what a tragic event had just passed and Kei was very aware of the crucial role his wife played in it. “You have meant a difference to a lot of people,” he went on. “You are amazing.”

“Ah nani…” he sympathetically, his eyebrows slanting with compassion. He left the eggs to cook and made his way over to his pregnant wife. He bent down a little to loop one arm around her shoulders, and the other’s hand on the side of her face. He pressed a kiss to her temple. His heart went out to her; she was exhausted, stressed, sad, and to top it all off, filled to the brim with pregnancy hormones that did nothing but intensify each of those feelings. He used the hand on her shoulder to gently stroke it up and down.

“We will get the ones healing back on their feet,” he told her quietly, resting his chin on her shoulder. “And we will mourn the ones we lost respectfully.” He pressed another kiss to her jawbone. “Before all this, we will eat, rest, and recover.”

The guardian looked at his wife as she removed her face from his shoulder and sat up. He observed how she hid her face, as if she was trying to force the tears back into her eyes. Kei looked at her for a moment, his arm still looped around her. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder.

“I will take the food to our room,” he told her quietly. It would be good to get her out of the cold, large kitchen and into their cozier, warmer quarters. He let go of her and made his way back to where he’d been cooking. On his way there, he took a plate out of the cupboard. Good thing, in this scenario, was that omelettes don’t take long to cook. The food was nearly done already. He lifted the pan off the fire, then scooped the eggs onto the plate. He fished a couple of slices of bread out of a bag he’d taken out of the cupboard earlier and left the on the plate too. He cast a quick glance at the stuff he’d left on the counter.

Kei whistled a tune, then made a clicking noise with his tongue. A couple of seconds later, a column of water sprayed from the surface. A giant blue shape rose slowly from the water and a moment later, an eye that was tiny in comparison to the rest of the whale that now floated tranquilly in the water. It looked strangely out of place in the cave-like interior.

“Kohola,” Kei called out to his patron. “How are you?” The whale spirit had exhausted itself throughout the eventful day and Kei had told him to rest. Kohola blinked lazily at his guardian, displaying its emotion. Kei nodded and smiled wearily at his old friend. He shaked two fingers in the direction he and Atkanah were headed. The whale made a soothing noise, then sank back below the water surface. Kohola enjoyed lounging by their window and Kei was sure the undyingly loyal patron had swam by the window a couple of times earlier today to see if he was there.

For some reason the change of areas suddenly made Kei aware how tired he was. Maybe because he was home now, a stress-free environment. He was content to see Atkanah seemed to have similar feelings, as he read from her behavior she seemed to have calmed down a little. The eggs in one hand, he swung his free arm around his wife’s shoulders and steered her towards their chambers. At a slower pace than usual, since she wobbled rather than walked lately, with her belly so large.

When he opened the door to their bedroom, she pretty much slumped with relief. She was already hobbling to the bed by the time he suggested she lay down, and as much as she’d love to plop down on her face, her stomach wouldn’t allow it. Instead, she sat down, kicking her shoes off and flexing her tired toes. The little joints in them crack and pop, and she let out a tired exhale. She was so glad to be home.

“Your order, M’am,” he said politely, once he’d arrived near the bed. He sat down, kicked off his slippers, then shuffled over on his bum towards Atkanah. Once there, he made sure to snuggle up close to the water wizard, before he handed her the eggs.

“Enjoy them, nani,” he told her, before he pressed a long, sweet kiss to her temple. He reached for his other side and took one of the many pillows that lined the head of their bed. Next, he reached over to Atkanah’s feet, and propped the pillow under them. Since she was shorter than him, it was an easy enough reach for his longer person. Upon his retreat, he lingered near her large belly again, and gently ran both his hands across it.

“Be a good boy tonight, okay?” he told their unborn son. “Mom and dad had a rough night. We’d appreciate it.” 

Kei leaned back into the pillows next to his wife, uttering a long sigh. He ran his hand across his face to rid it of the sleepiness, then leaned back into his wife’s shoulder.

The guardian reached out a hand and tore a piece of bread from the slices he’d provided her with, and stuffed it into his mouth. Just a little chunk, he liked the taste of it. The rest of it was all hers.

Atkanah put the plate on their bedside table, reaching out as much as she could. She wanted it on stable footing, so it wouldn’t fall off in the middle of the night if a playful spirit wandered into their room and started playing with their things. It’d happened before so it could happen again.

“I guess this is as good a sign as any,” the guardian confirmed, flashing her a tired grin. He ran a hand long his face and rubbed his fingers in his eyes. Next, he stretches his arms, until he felt a tugging from beneath him. A quick observation showed him Atkanah was trying to get under the blankets. Kei swung his legs to the side and pulled the covers from beneath him, allowing her to arrange the covers. Watching her get comfortable, made him feel even more tired and he longed for the comfort of their bed.

“You know what,” Kei announced as he pulled his sleeveless shirt over his head, “A shower can wait. I can take one tomorrow.” He lifted his side of the blankets and scooted on under them. “I’d rather stay with you and sleep. I’ll change the sheets once we’ve slept.”

The entire day had been chaos and he’d hardly seen his wife, who’d been up and about tending to the injured. She hadn’t been in their room, so he figured she was still in the hospital wing. That was exactly where he found her; sitting in a chair  looking tired, and very round.

She gave her husband a worried glance when he mentioned Momi having a difficult time during the day. “A lot of people are feeling out of place right now. I had someone brought over because they tripped on a stool when they were freaking out and sprained their ankle.” She sighed. “I’ll send Mu to check up on her later, just to be sure she’s fiiiIIINE—!” When he bent down to pick her up, it took her by surprise and she almost squeaked her last work out, slapping a hand on her mouth right away to keep her from making too much noise in the middle of the night.Her other arm wrapped around his neck, clinging on for dear life. 

As they walked back into the more domestic side of the house, Atkanah glanced at the photographs on the wall. She’d memorize the spots where the pictures of their own little family were hung at, and she could see them even in the half darkness. “That sounds like a pleasant idea. Rory can probably take care of the room while I’m gone. It’d be a nice vacation…” As they passed through the living room to go into the water wing, she squirmed in his hold. 

“Nyoooomm,” Kei voiced as he promptly made a U-turn without missing a beat, after Atka’s suggestion to visit the kitchen. “No problem Milady. At your request.” He turned his head and lifted his eyebrows at his wife in playful reprimand. “You’re hungry, are you. Really, next time I’m going to bring you some hot meals in. Don’t argue,” he added before she could interject. “You know you’ll enjoy it. Speaking of which,” He lifted his head and narrowed his eyes at the ceiling. “Let me cook you an omelette or something, so you have something warm to eat. Shouldn’t be too much trouble, it doesn’t require a lot of fire. Plus, I can always ask Hikin to help,” he said, referring to his tiny Fire Patron.

When Kei suggested he cook for her, she gave a little displeased sound at the back of her throat. “Kei, I don’t want you to have to cook, it’s too late and it’s been a long, hellish day. You’ve probably had enough today. I can make do with a slice of bread and some goat cheese.” But the mention of an omelette makes he stomach growl faintly and she purses her lips a little, silently cursing the terrible timing of her stomach gurgle.

The guardian grinned boyishly, lifting Atka higher in his arms before he would drop her on the chair. He laughed. “Nani, are you saying we ever stopped feeling like teenagers breaking curfew? It’s what we’re doing right now.” He waggled his eyebrows at her, before he left a few pecks on her lips. “Better make sure papa Johan doesn’t catch us.” His mouth formed a comical ‘o,’ his eyes going large as he pretended to exaggeratedly look around for any parental figures. This done, he carefully lowered his wife onto the chair she had picked out. Once she was seated, he moved around the kitchen, grabbing utensils he needed as he passed by the necessary shelves and drawers. 

The laughter bubbled right out of her as he lifted her higher. “There’s no curfew. And I don’t think we’re gonna get caught.” She grabbed him by the sides of his face, moving her hands up to push his hair back. “Mama is probably more exhausted than me, having to run out into that inferno.” He laughter died down at that comment and it became a little harder to even sustain her smile after that reminder of the day’s tragedy.So many people were unaccounted for, having been lost to the fire.

“Your work was invaluable today,” he told her earnestly while he chose a pan hanging from a hook above his head. He set it down on top of the blue flames and proceeded to chuck a clump of butter in it with a knife. The severity and seriousness of the day had not gone lost on him. It was truly upsetting what a tragic event had just passed and Kei was very aware of the crucial role his wife played in it. “You have meant a difference to a lot of people,” he went on. “You are amazing.”

“Ah nani…” he sympathetically, his eyebrows slanting with compassion. He left the eggs to cook and made his way over to his pregnant wife. He bent down a little to loop one arm around her shoulders, and the other’s hand on the side of her face. He pressed a kiss to her temple. His heart went out to her; she was exhausted, stressed, sad, and to top it all off, filled to the brim with pregnancy hormones that did nothing but intensify each of those feelings. He used the hand on her shoulder to gently stroke it up and down.

“We will get the ones healing back on their feet,” he told her quietly, resting his chin on her shoulder. “And we will mourn the ones we lost respectfully.” He pressed another kiss to her jawbone. “Before all this, we will eat, rest, and recover.”

The guardian looked at his wife as she removed her face from his shoulder and sat up. He observed how she hid her face, as if she was trying to force the tears back into her eyes. Kei looked at her for a moment, his arm still looped around her. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder.

“I will take the food to our room,” he told her quietly. It would be good to get her out of the cold, large kitchen and into their cozier, warmer quarters. He let go of her and made his way back to where he’d been cooking. On his way there, he took a plate out of the cupboard. Good thing, in this scenario, was that omelettes don’t take long to cook. The food was nearly done already. He lifted the pan off the fire, then scooped the eggs onto the plate. He fished a couple of slices of bread out of a bag he’d taken out of the cupboard earlier and left the on the plate too. He cast a quick glance at the stuff he’d left on the counter.

Kei whistled a tune, then made a clicking noise with his tongue. A couple of seconds later, a column of water sprayed from the surface. A giant blue shape rose slowly from the water and a moment later, an eye that was tiny in comparison to the rest of the whale that now floated tranquilly in the water. It looked strangely out of place in the cave-like interior.

“Kohola,” Kei called out to his patron. “How are you?” The whale spirit had exhausted itself throughout the eventful day and Kei had told him to rest. Kohola blinked lazily at his guardian, displaying its emotion. Kei nodded and smiled wearily at his old friend. He shaked two fingers in the direction he and Atkanah were headed. The whale made a soothing noise, then sank back below the water surface. Kohola enjoyed lounging by their window and Kei was sure the undyingly loyal patron had swam by the window a couple of times earlier today to see if he was there.

For some reason the change of areas suddenly made Kei aware how tired he was. Maybe because he was home now, a stress-free environment. He was content to see Atkanah seemed to have similar feelings, as he read from her behavior she seemed to have calmed down a little. The eggs in one hand, he swung his free arm around his wife’s shoulders and steered her towards their chambers. At a slower pace than usual, since she wobbled rather than walked lately, with her belly so large.

When he opened the door to their bedroom, she pretty much slumped with relief. She was already hobbling to the bed by the time he suggested she lay down, and as much as she’d love to plop down on her face, her stomach wouldn’t allow it. Instead, she sat down, kicking her shoes off and flexing her tired toes. The little joints in them crack and pop, and she let out a tired exhale. She was so glad to be home.

“Your order, M’am,” he said politely, once he’d arrived near the bed. He sat down, kicked off his slippers, then shuffled over on his bum towards Atkanah. Once there, he made sure to snuggle up close to the water wizard, before he handed her the eggs.

“Enjoy them, nani,” he told her, before he pressed a long, sweet kiss to her temple. He reached for his other side and took one of the many pillows that lined the head of their bed. Next, he reached over to Atkanah’s feet, and propped the pillow under them. Since she was shorter than him, it was an easy enough reach for his longer person. Upon his retreat, he lingered near her large belly again, and gently ran both his hands across it.

“Be a good boy tonight, okay?” he told their unborn son. “Mom and dad had a rough night. We’d appreciate it.” 

Kei leaned back into the pillows next to his wife, uttering a long sigh. He ran his hand across his face to rid it of the sleepiness, then leaned back into his wife’s shoulder.

The guardian reached out a hand and tore a piece of bread from the slices he’d provided her with, and stuffed it into his mouth. Just a little chunk, he liked the taste of it. The rest of it was all hers.

Atkanah put the plate on their bedside table, reaching out as much as she could. She wanted it on stable footing, so it wouldn’t fall off in the middle of the night if a playful spirit wandered into their room and started playing with their things. It’d happened before so it could happen again.

“I guess this is as good a sign as any,” the guardian confirmed, flashing her a tired grin. He ran a hand long his face and rubbed his fingers in his eyes. Next, he stretches his arms, until he felt a tugging from beneath him. A quick observation showed him Atkanah was trying to get under the blankets. Kei swung his legs to the side and pulled the covers from beneath him, allowing her to arrange the covers. Watching her get comfortable, made him feel even more tired and he longed for the comfort of their bed.

“You know what,” Kei announced as he pulled his sleeveless shirt over his head, “A shower can wait. I can take one tomorrow.” He lifted his side of the blankets and scooted on under them. “I’d rather stay with you and sleep. I’ll change the sheets once we’ve slept.”

Outside, campers were laughing, playing. Birds were chirping, pegasi were whinnying in the distance. To Louis, it could might as well have been a completely different world. One he didn’t belong to. The empty hospital wing was like a bunker, set into another dimension. He might as well be lying on the dirty hard ground he’d been lying on about 60-something hours prior. None of the softness of the mattress, blankets or pillows were getting through to him. His mind was locked in a strange setting of denial, rage and sadness. He didn’t seem able to pick a feature, didn’t know whether he wanted to cry or punch something. It was a very strange experience, because he wasn’t used to having these feelings on the regular. That realization didn’t help him any either, and made him feel even more depressed.

It was incredibly surreal and weird. His brain told him that his leg was still there. He could feel it. It hurt. But one glance, one pat, told him that is wasn’t. He tried not to think about that, preferred the idea that if it hurt, it was really still there and this was really all just a horrible nightmare that he’d wake up from any minute now. Any minute now.

Louis turned on his side. Maybe the aching would stop if he did. Undergoing the absence of leg weight was strange. He was facing his nightstand now, looking away from the door. A large bouquet of flowers perched on it. Thyme had brought them for him, having gotten to camp as soon as she could with the portal watch she had. She’d gone back some time ago to go inform his mother about his accident. It was something Louis both dreaded and looked forward to. His mom would be so saddened, but at the same time he longed for the comfort of her presence. Amongst the flowers were other things: muffins, cookies, a book, his mythomagic card set that Juli had brought in. Nothing about that seemed appealing right now, or possessed the ability to put him in a good mood.

Her subsequent visits had been more tame. Louis had stabilized, but he’d spent much of that time unconscious, recuperating. He visits had been short, mostly to watch him worriedly for a few minutes before leaving. She couldn’t stand him just being there so lifeless. It was so unlike him, and it scared her a little.

They’d told her that he was awake on and off now, but she wasn’t yet expecting much out of her visit. She had previously brought him snacks from breakfast, lunch and dinner, but they had only piled up and gotten stale on his table, so this time she came in with nothing. 

Louis turned his head, locating Jordan in the room, making her way towards him. He felt his stomach drop. Not because he didn’t want her there, but mostly because of the fact he hadn’t seen her before. Every time someone came to see him for the first time, it was the same scenario. They were in shock, some nearly in tears. Some didn’t know how to behave, or did their very best to avoid bringing up his lost leg, probably in an attempt to distract him from it, pretending it was no problem. It was never a pleasant experience. 

“Hey.” Despite the fact that she’d wanted him to be awake, not that he was, she wasn’t sure of what to say.All the plans and rehearsed conversations she had flew out the window. She wasn’t very good at this talking thing. “I finally managed to catch you awake.” She placed her hands on the side of the bed, over the sheets as she watched him.

“Yeah. Sorry…” Louis responded, his voice monotone. He turned back to watching the ceiling. In any other occasion, he would have elaborated. But much like her, he didn’t know what to say. What could he even say? He had no idea. His brain seemed a little numb too. When Jordan touched his arm, it was something that, by all means, would have surprised him. Whenever she touched him, it was usually to shove him, albeit that had decreased gradually over the years. Still, it didn’t happen a lot. But again, he experienced in a rather mild manner.

The Hephaestus son blinked for a moment as she mentioned his loss. It was the first time someone had phrased it like that. It sounded a little odd, because to him, it was a phrase that he associated with someone losing someone dear to them. Not so much a limb. It was kind of a strange feeling, because yes, it did feel as though he had lost someone dear, even though that dear thing was something that used to belong to his body. He hadn’t really thought about it that way.

“I don’t know…” he told her honestly upon her inquiry how he was feeling. He added a little shrug to it. “Angry, sad. But at the same time also nothing.”

Kei had never known a scenario where a skeleton came to life was a good one. But then again, not too long ago he had been approached by a glowing blue orb that turned out to be a spiritual whale who he had now befriended. So in that retrospect, a living skeleton shouldn’t freak him out too much.

He goggled at the spirit -assuming it was a spirit- as it headed for a door near the desk, explaining. Kei wondered if he was supposed to follow. He wasn’t moving that fast anyway, so he decided to limp towards the door where the skeleton was calling for someone. The guardian furrowed two confused eyebrows at the spirit. How on earth did it know he was from Hawaii? THE kid from Hawaii apaprently. Kei was pretty sure he would have remembered meeting a moving skeleton before. Unless he’d been clobbered on the head, he was quite certain he’d never seen this guy before, but apparently that wasn’t vice versa.

The table in question was a long, wooden table in the middle of the room. It was extremely flat and rather plain. The texture on the surface was marred by small indents where sharp objects had dug in close to the corners, but the rest of the surface had been polished smooth, no doubt by other people sitting on it much like how Kei was being asked to at the moment.

This done, Kei took a moment to observe the room, looking at the various items on display, and plants he had never seen before in his life. What a peculiar place.

As he heard movement, he turned his head in the direction of the door, which he saw had been opened. Kei grinned when he saw the woman approach. He knew he’d been right, he recognized her from the last time he needed medical assistance.

“Ey, no problem!” he insisted, waving graciously with his hand, “This is nothing, this one time I had to take my cousin to the ER because he got a fish hook in his finger -long story- but it took forever before a doctor came. This is a breeze.” He grinned a second time as she searched for his name. “Yeah, it’s Kei. Good job remembering, I bet it must be tough. There’s so many people here and if everyone is like… two-hundred years old, then I guess they just keep on coming don’t they?” he chatted on.

When her spirit handed her the file, she gently placed it on a small tool cart next to the table before turning to Kei again. She laughed a little at his ‘confused and disoriented’ comment. “Don’t feel bad. You’re not the first, and certainly not the last, person who will end up being dragged inside the house injured and with no clue as to what’s happening. That goes for wizards, guardians and otherwise, though I’ll admit that it happens to more guardians than any other category. They’re also a bit harder to remember the names of, considering they come from all over the world.”

As she spoke, she crouched down a little so she could begin inspecting the damage on his leg. She reached out for a towel that might’ve been white at some point but could be now best described as beige with wear and tear, which was sitting on the same cart where his file had been placed. She dipped it in a small bowl of water, wrung it dry and then proceeded to start cleaning around the injury, making sure to keep her touches light but steady. She glanced up at him.

As the skeleton returned with his file, Kei eyed the paper curiously, trying to catch a glimpse of what it might say. But all he saw was the front with his name on it, so that was not particularly exciting. He nodded his agreement as she talked about guardians from all over the place. He couldn’t agree more, in fact, because he’d just been in Hawaii a couple of weeks ago and now they were somewhere in the mountains in Siberia (not one of Kei’s favourite places, he’d decided). The house had moved on its own and in 10 seconds. It still blew his mind.

“Sure thing, doctor,” the guardian stated. He shuffled to the back in one fluid motion, then rested himself on his elbows, so he could stretch both his legs out on the table. His feet were dressed in his usual worn leather sandals. He cast another glance at the healer tending to his leg. She was very pretty. He had noted that before. He’d give her somewhere between 24 and 27 at first glance, but his brief experiences had taught him that hardly anyone in here was truly the age they looked like. Given she was in charge of the place, she must be at a master’s level, or so Kei figured.

“That must be a great ice breaker at parties,” he said with a grin, indicating her glowing eyes. He lifted his eyebrows as a thought occurred to him. “… Unless I just like, insulted some kind of sacred… traditional ability… thing. In which case, I’m sorry.” His grin turned into a sheepish one, hoping she would indulge his spontaneity.

“1812,” Kei repeated flatly. This fact was hard to register. This had been at the start of the previous century. His great-grandfather hadn’t even been born yet. 

“I… Yes, 1975. That’s quite right,” he responded with a couple of affirmative nods. It baffled him that she pondered what year it was like one might be mistaken for which day of the week it was. When one grew well into centuries, Kei figured that the passing of a year was probably different to them than it was to someone who aged normally.

“Some people are a bit touchy about their age, I probably wouldn’t ask everyone you see.” She bent down, reaching for a bottle and some cotton in the same little stool from before. She swished the liquid around a bit before soaking the cotton ball in it. It was a dark brown liquid that smelled like something medicinal. “But I don’t mind. I’m actually…um.” She stays quiet a minute, as she tries to do some mental math. As she mumbles numbers under her breath, she presses the cotton softly on the cut. It’s cool to touch and the contact sticks a little, but the contact is soft so the pain isn’t unbearable. “192. No, wait, 191. I’ll be turning 192 at the end of this year. I was almost 30 when this room came to exist for me. I’m actually usually in the water wing.”

“191?” Kei echoed, his eyebrows going aloft again, a lot more surprised than when he was informed of the lack of parties. That was nearly two centuries ago. He observed the healer with large eyes, who looked no older than he was. “191,” he repeated flatly. “Gosh. Well hey, still looking good!” He laughed a little, giving her thumbs up, or as much as he could leaning on his elbows. His grin turned wider as she returned the compliment about his hair. “Thanks!” he expressed enthusiastically. “I got my dad’s hair. I’m pretty happy about that.”

Kei chuckled, observing the shift in her behavior. It was charming. He liked her. He tried to glance at his leg, tilting it so he could get a look at his leg. He saw brown stains from where Atkanah had dabbed the liquid on it. “Hmm… Leg fixed completely in a couple of hours, or getting stitches…” He shifted his head from one way to the other, as if he was debating on what the best choice would be. “Think I’ll go with the complete session. I don’t have anywhere to be anyway. … Maybe I should tell my patron though…” he added as an afterthought. “But he’ll probably know where to find me. He was there.”

“You got good eyes, doc.” he went on as she inquired about being cut by a weapon. ‘Aside from them glowing I mean. Yeah, I uhh… sorta cut myself in the leg.” The guardian hunched his shoulders a little, looking embarrassed. “Made a bit of a wrong move there. I use swords. Odachi. Sorta katana shaped?” he explained, using his finger to illustrate the shape of the blade. Whatever information he could provide that would help her.

“Alright, then let’s get started. Mu, if you please.” As she said this, she reached for one of the beds. One the one right next to the wall was a big, furry… dog, is what it looked like, seemingly sleeping. However, it took only that short statement to get it to pick its head up and yawn, turning into a sphere of yellow light a second later. Like the first one, this one hurtled itself towards Atkanah and melded against her skin, this time at her fingertips where her golden marks looked like rings around her fingers. The bands began to shine, giving her hands a soft glow. “I’ve been around plenty of weapon induced wounds. I know my share.” She reached for Kei’s leg and touched the affected area softly. Her touch was warm, especially on those spots where her skin glowed.

She was quiet for a moment, seemingly concentrating on the task at hand, before she spoke up again. “It’s… not that we don’t have parties, per se. I guess it’s more like… it has to be something big to be celebrated in a house-wide way. Birthdays are, for one, are very small celebrations. If we threw a party every time someone had a birthday, we’d have to celebrate almost every day, sometimes more than once a day. There’s just too many people, and funds are tight.” 

She didn’t make any comment about his compliments, though she was certainly very pleased with herself. he seemed like a sweet man and his words seemed genuine. He was a bit of a spazz, but he spoke rather often and very fondly of his family. She thought it was endearing. “There’s no shame in it. I know even the best get hurt by their own hand. My own guardian, Melton, has come to me with cuts and bruises when he’s started to work a weapon he’s not yet an expert on.” She looked up at him. Now that she was on the healing part, there was no use to keep her eyes on the wound. The glow hadn’t faded on her irises. “It’s just a matter of growing your skill set through patience and plenty of practice.”

“That makes sense,” Kei agreed, nodding. “I’m not too worried. I’ve only just gotten here. To be honest I’m still pretty surprised I ended up here at all, and so suddenly too. It’s not every day that a large whale approaches you and tells you they’re a spiritual being.” He scratched his temple and shook a couple of dreads behind his shoulder. “So I don’t plan on turning into a master swordsman somewhere next week.”

Intruiged, he observed how her magic fingers worked on his leg. While sometimes it still stung when she touched the injury, mostly it was warm, like the noon sun shining down on his calves. He silently noted that is was peculiar she did everything with her bare hands. In previous circumstances when he’d been in a hospital, doctor’s nearly always wore latex gloves. Kei figured all the magic-y things probably didn’t require gloves and was probably sterile on its own. It never ceased to astound him.

“So you have a guardian?” he went on, striking up conversation. He paused for a moment, realizing that maybe that was a ridiculous thing to day, because: “Well of course you’d have a guardian, you are 191 years old, I figure you’d find one in that timespan. But you know, I hang out with the new kids most of the time and none of us have any wizards, so that’s all new stuff to us.” He grinned sheepishly, hunching his shoulders a little. He wondered if the guardian was her husband, since that seemed to be the case for a lot of wizard-guardian duos in this place.

“Don’t be fooled, the fact that I’m old doesn’t mean I have to have a guardian. Some wizards choose never to take one. Some have a hard time finding someone who’s a good match for them. I have a… cousin, I suppose, who is older than me and hasn’t found a guardian yet who can match her pace.” She looks away again, focusing on his leg. “And sometimes guardians die. A partnership like that isn’t easy to replace.”

Kei wondered if maybe this Melton she mentioned wasn’t her first guardian, and that her previous words implied she once had a guardian, who’d passed. He wouldn’t ask her, it’d be too rude of him. After all, she barely knew him, and vice versa. He could only phanthom what it was like to lose someone so direly important. It was something he couldn’t quite imagine yet, to be so close to a person to share your lifespan with them. He wondered if he’d ever be capable to found such a friendship. Time would tell.

He had to admit he was rather impressed with her. She talked with mannerisms that seemed a little old fashioned, and with the hint she had experienced things vastly major to anyone else who looked the age she did. He would probably need a little time to wrap his head around the idea that a lot of people in here were a lot older than they looked. Nevertheless, he found it intriguing and came to the conclusion that he was really enjoying her company.

“Will do,” Kei promised with a click of his tongue and a good-natured wink as she mentioned if at one point he would be uncomfortable with talking about something. He was quite content with how easy it seemed to be to talk to her. She appeared to be very sincere, which he could appreciate.

He looked down at his leg again, having to squint his eyes a little as he looked at her luminescent hands. If someone had told him a month ago that he’d suffered a leg injury with a sword, and he’d be fixed up by magic hands –literally magic hands- he’d have laughed and pointed out what a funny story that was. But here he was, in a world where enchanted glowing light was nothing if not relatively ordinary. The young guardian listened attentively as she explained what was going to happen to his leg later.

She was touched by his thankful words. Truthfully, it wasn’t every day that she felt her talents appreciated. People were so used to her being there and doing things, they sometimes neglected to express their thanks in such an articulate way. This was especially true of the newer recruits, both wizards and guardians with or without Redstone blood in them, who thought her vocation more of a paid job than something born out of love and need. 

She stepped back a little, straightening her skirt as she tried to smooth down the wrinkles that had creased with her leaning down to work on his leg. “You’re quite welcome.” Suddenly, the dog creature and the skeleton were back, standing beside their wizards. The furry animal didn’t hesitate to hope up back on the bed it had been perched on before being called to action, curling up again to sleep. Surely, it had grown tired with having to work on the healing. The skeleton placed a hand on her shoulder, addressing her as if the other person wasn’t in the room. “You should eat something, Atkanah. It is past lunch time and you’ve yet to eat anything besides breakfast. I can stay here with Mr. Kahele until you get back.”

“Holy shit,” he blurted on impulse, before he quickly slapped a hand on his mouth, as though he could put it back inside his mouth. He cast an apologetic look at the healer next to the table. “Sorry,” he said, scratching his temple, “That came out before I could stop it. But man, that is incredible!” Kei moved his leg a second time, angling his leg differently so he could observe it from that side. “It looks nearly healed already!”

Upon her suggestion to use the bed rather than the table, he nodded, and carefully swung his legs from the table. Carefully, he put his good leg on the floor, then gingerly tested his injured leg. It was still sore, but not as much as it’d been as when he first came in.

The guardian’s attention was drawn back to Atkanah’s spirit when they re-emerged. The dog-like creature was adorable, but he had to admit the talking and moving skeleton was still creeping him out a little, in spite of appearing completely polite.

“Oh no no, I don’t mind at all,” Kei assured, gesturing his hands about for emphasis. “I’ll be just fine, thanks. I’ll just crash on that bed there and rest a little. You should definitely go eat something, working like that must’ve taken a lot out of you.” Upon her question whether or not he’d eaten, he realized he hadn’t had any lunch. It had been the plan to eat somethign after his sword training, but due to his accident, obviously he hadn’t thought about it. Nor had he been hungry.

“No, not at all,” he said upon her inquiry whether or not he ate meat. “No allergies that I’m aware of. I’m pretty good at digesting things.” He sent another grin her way, shrugging a little. “I’m not picky.”

Next, he headed into the direction of the bed that had been indicated to him and limped his way there. His limp had turned more into something of a comical hop. Once there, Kei sat down on it and tested the bed springs. He pulled an approving face.

The young guardian looked sideways at the small dog, who had settled in its bed next to his. If it had been an ordinary pooch, Kei would have extended a hand to see if it was friendly. By all means, this one looked friendly, but it wasn’t an actual dog. It was probably even far older than he was. Nevertheless, Kei was curious, and he liked the shape the spirit had chosen, so he gently extended a hand, leaving it to hover at a safe distance from the doggy spirit, so it could choose for itself whether or not it found Kei’s hand interesting.

However, he jumped a little when all of a sudden the skeletal spirit was near his bed again. He still found its appearance a little unsettling and he could only guess why it had chosen to take this shape. Kei figured he’d just have to get used to it.

“Jacqueline had an anniversary thing,” he explained while he made his way back to the kitchen table and sat down at it. “So I gave her the weekend off. She made a fuss about it of course. But I told her that if she complained one more time that fine, I was gonna give her the work anyways and then she stopped talking pretty quickly.” He browsed through the mail, sorting bills from commercial folders. He snorted when she mentioned the interns.

“Whenever it’s ready is fine,” he commented on her question about the food. “I could eat.” He looked away from the letter and leaned back to try and catch a glimpse of what she had in there, but it was gone again too fast. 

He raised his eyebrows at her statement about bringing interns to tears. He didn’t even blink an eye. “Well you’re not wrong,” Fred told her audaciously. He tossed the bill on the table, then stretched his arms to the back to rid the strain on his arm and back muscles. He ended his stretch with a long sigh.

“I guess I should go ahead and pay these and be done with it,” he muttered. He got up from the chair and retraced his steps to the hall, where he picked up his bag, and returned to the kitchen with it. Fred withdrew his laptop from it and sat back down while he started it up. He scratched his cheek while he observed the loading screen.

Everything about her day seemed normal, until she mentioned downtown New York. Anza had been correct in her thoughts, because that did rouse his attention. He looked up from the screen, and slowly moved his head to look at her. He observed how she stood there, next to the table.

“You ‘talked to some people’,” Fred repeated, his face and voice deadpan.

A pause.

The frown on his face unfolded, and it made room for a brief moment of surprise. He hadn’t expected that to be the reason, but only seconds later, Fred realized it actually didn’t surprise him at all. It was just like Anza to go check up on the little girl to make sure she was doing okay. She always got so easily attached to things and people. He was probably the prime example of that notion, which, in the end, had been a good thing.

“Not just situation, probably,” Fred added, leaning his face in one hand, and his elbow on the table. The other one was tapping idly on his keyboard. He wasn’t good at focussing intently on two things at the same time, and for now the conversation had taken up most of it. “The demigod factor also tends to make some kids more isolated. Especially considering our suspicions about her father.”

Fred went quiet a second, his eyes staring at nothing as he remembered the unexpected manifestation of the powers of the child -called Dhara apparently- and how rather… alarming they’d been. No wonder she had attracted monsters at such a young age. “… Hades or Pluto children tend to have this… vibe about them. If you’re not used to it, I imagine it can be a little unsettling.” It was something Fred hadn’t really experienced himself, having grown up with Ben as he had, but he’d witnessed it happening around camp, or people his cousin interacted with.

“I already did. Chiron (are we using Chiron? I don’t wanna use Theseus, fuck that) seemed… conflicted. Three years old is a lot younger than they usually deal with at camp. Youngest are usually closer to the ten year old mark. Lids are a lot more self sufficient by that point and don’t need as much one on one attention. He said he’d look into it and keep me informed.” She paused for a moment, watching as Fred typed things into his computer. She tapped her foot against the floor “I don’t know how long that sort of thing would take…”

“They’ll figure something out,” he assured. Meanwhile, he’d pulled out his card and was now fiddling with it in order to get the payment done. “They’re best suited to decide what course of action to take.”

Silence after that. While Fred continued to fill in the correct data, he glanced at his girlfriend every now and then. Indeed, he could tell she was mulling something over. She appeared tense and antsy. He sighed privately. She had probably gotten too emotionally invested and was now stuck worrying about the little girl.

Silence after that, but Fred left it, and ate. He figured Anza was still stewing over the Hades child, and probably would be so until they received news from Chiron that they’d taken the little girl in.

He was already halfway through his meal when she put her knife and fork down. Fred had noticed during his eating that she’d hardly touched her food. He glanced up at her face. She looked hesitant, and he knew something was coming.

He was right. After Anza was done talking to him, Fred stared at her. By all means, he would say it was a joke. But since he’d lived with the Demter child for a while, he knew this was a matter she would not be cracking funnies about.

Suzanne sat anxiously, with her legs crossed and with one leg jumping up and down against the floor. One of her arms held onto a leash while the other one supported her chin as she tried not to look around too much. This wasn’t her environment at all, full of animals and weird smells and barking. Petunia, her boxer mix, didn’t seem at all bothered by the fact they were surrounded by other dogs, a squawking bird and a nervous, hissing cat. There was even a bigass turtle with a leash around its shell by the end of the hallway. In fact, the dog was pretty ecstatic to be out and about with her owner and to be so surrounded by friendly animals. Suzanne, on the other hand, was a bit mortified to be seen with her dog. It wasn’t that she didn’t like her dog, but she could feel the looks passersby gave her once they gave Petunia a quick glance. The bright red marks that she hadn’t been able to rub out of her snout were pretty obviously not supposed to be there.

This deep voice emerged from the veterinarian’s office as its door opened and a man in green scrubs -most likely the vet- showed out a young man with a massive grey Great Dane. The two of them exchanged a few more pleasantries, then shook hands. The guy with the dog left the waiting room and the doctor turned his attention to the other people in there.

“Alright, next please— In a bit, Mrs. Gellerman,” the vet interrupted himself upon noticing the elderly woman with the leashed turtle had gotten up from her seat and made an attempt to speak to him. “I will see to you and George in a while. When it’s your turn, I promise I will give him my undivided attention.” He raised his eyebrows and inclined his head at her, in a whimsical, yet dismissive way, so his gesture remained polite. It worked, and the woman sat back down, waving her hands about in theatrical apologies.

“Alright then,” the doctor went on, turning to Suzanne this time. “I believe you are next, ma’am.” His eyes systematically fell on the dog that was with her. Unsurprisingly, his eyebrows went aloft upon witnessing the pet’s peculiar state. He didn’t comment on it just yet, instead invited Suzanne and the dog inside the practice.

“Please come in,” he said politely, showing her the way in and holding the door open for her. Once inside, he closed it, and positioned himself behind the stainless steel examination table.

“And nice to meet you too, Petunia,” Aaron greeted the dog as it came to investigate him. He held out his hand for her to sniff, allowing the dog to familiarize herself with him. “I’m going to take a wild guess and assume you’ve come here for… this?” He gestured at the pooch’s mouth, where the bright pink stains of lipstick still stuck to the fur. “Lipstick, I would guess. Unless you do this on the regular, so you and Petunia would match. Which you are free to do in your own time of course, but as a vet, I don’t recommend it. It’s not toxic, but still, not recommended.”

Upon her mention of the paperwork, Aaron briefly left the dog on the table and went over to his desk. There, he retrieved the mentioned paperwork, which his assistant had left there sometime before Suzanne had come in. While he returned, his dark eyes scanned the sheet, indeed noticing that not everything was filled in.

“No matter,” Aaron shrugged off good-naturedly, putting the sheet on the table. “This happens all the time, no need to worry.” He picked up a small flashlight from the counter where he’d gotten his gloves from, then turned back to the dog. Carefully, he put his fingers in Petunia’s mouth and pulled it open, using a couple of fingers to use the flashlight and look inside. “So you got her at 4 weeks old? That is relatively early. Did you adopt her from a shelter, or took her from someone else? Sheltered animals should all have received the necessary vaccinations.” He glanced briefly at Petunia’s owner, who had occupied herself with twirling her hair. He had to note she was quite pretty. She also appeared a little nervous, but he assumed that was because of her dog. Clients tended to be a little antsy when their pets were being examined.

Aaron pulled a pen out of his breast pocket and made a couple of notes on a small notebook that lay in a corner of the steel table. “Yeah, no need to worry about the stains. They’ll be gone soon enough when she drinks or licks. The fur will make it wash out with a bit more difficulty than it does on human skin. It shouldn’t leave any damage.”

He left the pen on the table, then scratched Petunia behind the ears. “As far as the vaccinations go, I can give her the necessary shots right now if you’d like. It doesn’t really matter whether or not she’s already received them in the past. It’s better to be safe than sorry.” Privately, he wondered where the mixed dog had come from. Nowhere dodgy he hoped, which was one of his biggest pet peeves, since incorrectly bred dogs often ended up with a lot of health problems. At least Petunia’s owner seemed to genuinely care about her pet, considering she’d brought her in so quickly after being confronted with the dog’s unconventional snack.

Outside, campers were laughing, playing. Birds were chirping, pegasi were whinnying in the distance. To Louis, it could might as well have been a completely different world. One he didn’t belong to. The empty hospital wing was like a bunker, set into another dimension. He might as well be lying on the dirty hard ground he’d been lying on about 60-something hours prior. None of the softness of the mattress, blankets or pillows were getting through to him. His mind was locked in a strange setting of denial, rage and sadness. He didn’t seem able to pick a feature, didn’t know whether he wanted to cry or punch something. It was a very strange experience, because he wasn’t used to having these feelings on the regular. That realization didn’t help him any either, and made him feel even more depressed.

It was incredibly surreal and weird. His brain told him that his leg was still there. He could feel it. It hurt. But one glance, one pat, told him that is wasn’t. He tried not to think about that, preferred the idea that if it hurt, it was really still there and this was really all just a horrible nightmare that he’d wake up from any minute now. Any minute now.

Louis turned on his side. Maybe the aching would stop if he did. Undergoing the absence of leg weight was strange. He was facing his nightstand now, looking away from the door. A large bouquet of flowers perched on it. Thyme had brought them for him, having gotten to camp as soon as she could with the portal watch she had. She’d gone back some time ago to go inform his mother about his accident. It was something Louis both dreaded and looked forward to. His mom would be so saddened, but at the same time he longed for the comfort of her presence. Amongst the flowers were other things: muffins, cookies, a book, his mythomagic card set that Juli had brought in. Nothing about that seemed appealing right now, or possessed the ability to put him in a good mood.

Her subsequent visits had been more tame. Louis had stabilized, but he’d spent much of that time unconscious, recuperating. He visits had been short, mostly to watch him worriedly for a few minutes before leaving. She couldn’t stand him just being there so lifeless. It was so unlike him, and it scared her a little.

They’d told her that he was awake on and off now, but she wasn’t yet expecting much out of her visit. She had previously brought him snacks from breakfast, lunch and dinner, but they had only piled up and gotten stale on his table, so this time she came in with nothing. 

Louis turned his head, locating Jordan in the room, making her way towards him. He felt his stomach drop. Not because he didn’t want her there, but mostly because of the fact he hadn’t seen her before. Every time someone came to see him for the first time, it was the same scenario. They were in shock, some nearly in tears. Some didn’t know how to behave, or did their very best to avoid bringing up his lost leg, probably in an attempt to distract him from it, pretending it was no problem. It was never a pleasant experience. 

“Hey.” Despite the fact that she’d wanted him to be awake, not that he was, she wasn’t sure of what to say.All the plans and rehearsed conversations she had flew out the window. She wasn’t very good at this talking thing. “I finally managed to catch you awake.” She placed her hands on the side of the bed, over the sheets as she watched him.

“Yeah. Sorry...” Louis responded, his voice monotone. He turned back to watching the ceiling. In any other occasion, he would have elaborated. But much like her, he didn’t know what to say. What could he even say? He had no idea. His brain seemed a little numb too. When Jordan touched his arm, it was something that, by all means, would have surprised him. Whenever she touched him, it was usually to shove him, albeit that had decreased gradually over the years. Still, it didn’t happen a lot. But again, he experienced in a rather mild manner.

The Hephaestus son blinked for a moment as she mentioned his loss. It was the first time someone had phrased it like that. It sounded a little odd, because to him, it was a phrase that he associated with someone losing someone dear to them. Not so much a limb. It was kind of a strange feeling, because yes, it did feel as though he had lost someone dear, even though that dear thing was something that used to belong to his body. He hadn’t really thought about it that way.

“I don’t know...” he told her honestly upon her inquiry how he was feeling. He added a little shrug to it. “Angry, sad. But at the same time also nothing.”