Blowing off some steam... (PRIVATE: Anime)

Salone closed her eyes as Riley spoke. She was angry, very angry. After he was done speaking she opened her eyes. Salone's face completely calm.
She looked directly at Riley, "I am done with all this."
He knew what she meant by that sentence, they were done. She turned around and mounted Hound, her face stony.
"Let's go," she told her animal companion. Then they vanished.

Several weeks had passed and Salone was walking through the forest. She had gotten her hair cut during this time and it was now a little longer than shoulder length. Her breakup with Riley had been sudden and she missed him. But the heart ache wasn't as bad as it had been the first week. Danni had gotten better as well. After about a week and a half of medical leave she was in top condition and she had received news a few days ago that the organization had been bombed to smithereens.
Salone sighed and started to climb the tall oak tree. Hound was around here some were . Salone grabbed a branch above her, her muscles taut in her back. She was wearing her tank top and shorts again, soaking up sun rays.

Hound had been dashing along and nearly smashed into the son of Aphrodite. Her jeweled collar winked in the dim light. It was solid gold with massive emeralds embedded into it. Hound crouched down in front of the boy, her flat silver eyes staring at him.
"I have not seen you in these parts before, son of Aphrodite." She stated, her tail flicking back and forth. "There are few who venture this deep into the forest, my master included."
Salone dropped down out of the tree, hearing Hound talking to someone, and was almost instantly affected by Aphrodite power.
"Sweet Hades," She croaked. "Can you tone it down please?"
She had been around enough magical powers to sense them, any hero could if they worked at it.

Salone's insides went all funny when he looked at her with those eyes. Mentally she shook herself. NO MORE BOYS!
She had sworn off boys for the time being. She cleared her throat and walked over to Hound. Hound blinked at her, "Sorry about Hound, most people tend to usually run away from her screaming."
Salone was barefoot in her shorts, tank top, and her blonde hair tumbling over her shoulders. She turned back to the guy and studied him, a son of Aphrodite, judging by his aura. The aura was overwhelming, just a little bit. Jance had an aura like this but it was more subtle and not as direct.

Salone relaxed slightly as the power tone went down, "Hound has that bad habit, she does that to a lot of people. I'm Salone daughter of Anubis and you've obviously met the Hound of Anubis."
Salone leaned against her animal companion and picked a few twigs out of her fur. When she glanced at him again her stomach did that funny flip thing again. Silently she cursed Aphrodite and her powers. Come on, it wan't her fault she was attracted to muscly... attractive people.

Salone arched an eyebrow, "I am not, as you so kindly put it, most girls."
Her jaw tensed as he drew closer, every cell in her body was screaming at him to stay away.
"This is my thinking tree, people tend not to wander out here or many animals for that matter." Hound shifted away from her causing Salone to stand up properly and she shoved her hands in her jean pockets.
"To bad for you I am a barrel of strange and oddities." she said finally. True that she was, she could hear and see dead things and bring dead things back to life.

Salone's hands tightened into fists in her pockets.
"Fortunately for you, I am good at hiding things," She said softly. She wanted to leave and get out of this situation and quickly. She took her hand out of her pocket and it closed around Hound's collar when she walked back around. Was it odd that she was getting a creeper vibe off him, all feelings of attraction to him had vanished.

Salone softened a little at that comment, "I understand, I hear the dead. So I am not reliable emotionally as well as I used to be. It is scary."
She leaned back against Hound again, her shoulders warming against her shin. Looking up she saw a stick jutting out of her fur. Salone turned around, exposing the tattoo of the mark of Anubis on her lower shoulder blade. She reached up and pulled the stick out of the creature's fur.
"What were you doing? Climbing trees?" She muttered sarcastically. She had gotten back into her top shape through out the past few weeks and the muscle in her back stood out. Then only side effect of the experimentation was she would get tired abruptly, but the problem was quickly fading.

"Try being at a plane explosion, it makes my head feel like it is about to split open," She muttered in response. Then she noticed his accent... a foreigner?
"Were are you from?" She asked, turning back around. "My best friend, she is from Italy... I don't remember what part though."
She itched the bottom of her chin with her long nails. When he mentioned the gym, Salone suppressed a snort of amusement, she would without a doubt could squish him like a bug. But she didn't voice her thoughts.

"I get it," Samuel spoke in response to the plane thing. He would kill two birds with one stone, explaining the foreigner thing and how he knew how she felt. "My accent... it's a long story. To be brief, I grew on an island off the coast of Africa which was colonized by Europeans from all over the globe. Most of the men were Italian, but others were Dutch, Spanish, French and Portuguese. My father was the ruler, you could say, and he was British of Italian descent, and so we spoke English, among other languages... I suppose that's why my accent is so different from the Americans', even though I was around many of them too." He didn't go into further detail about that, or how they were his slaves at one point.

"Unfortunately my home was destroyed a few months ago in a tragic incident, and my father was killed along with it. I was lucky enough to survive, though I was injured, and I found my way to America." He spoke, meeting her eyes to convey his emotion. He felt drained, and he didn't realize it, but he'd turned on a bit of his charm-attraction power again.

---

In another region of camp, up on Half Blood Hill, Riley Peterson arrived at camp with his newly found sister, Alison Grey, with two duffle bags pulled over his shoulder. Luckily, she didn't have many belongings, so it wouldn't be too difficult to move her in. She'd argued with him over carrying the bags due to the fact that he'd been recently injured, but he took them in haste, disregarding her and insisting that he was fine. He watched with amusement as she stepped out of the taxi cab, in awe of the Greek arch reading Camp's name placed randomly in the grove of trees. "This is it?" she asked, in awe but unimpressed at the same time.

"Wait until you get inside," Riley said with a wry smile, taking a few steps up the hill with little difficulty. "You'll see."

Riley should have been more excited to come back to camp, but in truth he was nervous, coming back here after everything that'd occurred. It'd only been a bit over two months, but he'd been through so much that it felt like an eternity. He had no idea how Salone would react, or if she was even still in camp. Riley even looked different... though not very much so. He'd gained quite a bit of muscle in training as a sort of solider, and his hair was considerably shorter... he'd buzzed it originally, and he'd had to shave it off after it'd been burned in the explosions. He'd managed to grow it back to a relatively normal length, though, even while it didn't reach it's original thickness. He'd definitely gained some scars, but most of those weren't visible, hidden beneath his t-shirt and jeans. His experiences left more of an effect on him than anyone would know except for Ali, and he planned on keeping it that way. He took another step forward, and even his gait wasn't quite like it used to be. It was more hesitant, wary.

"Come on!" he called back to his sister, smiling slightly. He wasn't used to having to look after someone, even if the said someone was fifteen years old and perfectly capable of taking care of herself. "Let's go."

Salone nodded and she stumbled backwards as Hound sniffed the air and moved away from her, wagging her tail apparently existed about something.
"What?" She asked, looking up at her companion.
"I shall be back, I trust you can handle yourself?" The Hound of Anubis asked.
"Yeah, just hurry back." Salone answered as Hound bounded away. "It is so weird when she's gone, I have known her most of my life."
She wasn't really paying attention to Samuel's power levels as it spiked or the fact she was addressing him. She moved over to a tree to lean against so she was comfortable.
"I guess you could say camp has been my only home," Salone relaxed against the tree, shrugging. She hooked her thumbs through her belt loop again.
***
Hound bounded into camp, picking up the familiar scent.
"Son of Geras," She said, wagging her tail slowly. Then she noticed a smaller child. Without waiting for permission she went ahead and sniffed Riley's sister. "Another Geras child," Hound muttered to herself. Hound liked Riley, even though Salone had broken up with him. That in itself was an accomplishment as Hound didn't like very many people. Demi-gods and gods alike.

Samuel quirked an eyebrow at the dog, still unsure about its presence, but he relaxed once it left, taking a step forward and leaning towards Salone as he spoke. "Don't yo ever wish you could get out, experience something more?" he asked, the seductivity revved up high with his charisma, even though he didn't consciously intend it to do so. He leaned his palm against the tree beside her head, leaning in so his forehead was maybe a foot away from hers. "It's great, here, I know, but I lived my life trapped on an island... and I'm only just now realizing how much that's delayed me. I don't even know how to make myself a sandwich." He vouched, meeting her eyes.

"I suppose it's nice here, though, and sometimes you just need to relax." His breath hitched as he looked at her, she was so gorgeous in his mind and somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that she was so out of his league after everything he'd done and that only intensified things. He shouldn't be doing this. He leaned in closer to her, their foreheads nearly touching. "Don't you?"

Samuel was draining quickly, but his emotional impulses kept the energy going. His common sense fought with him, but his common sense never won out over his emotions. At least, not when he was so caught up within them.

--

Riley had to stop himself from jumping in surprise at the arrival of Hound, who spoke from behind him. He was bad with that. His expression changed; however, when the dog approached him jovially, wagging her tail. "Hey, Hound!" he exclaimed, surprised to see the dog without Salone, her companion. He glanced around the clearing, but there was no sign of the daughter of Anubis. "Haven't seen you around in a while." It wasn't until Hound walked over and sniffed Alison that Riley realized that the girl had been standing there, stock-still with widened eyes. He had told her all about Salone and Hound among other people, but she didn't seem to process the dog's features until now.

"Alison, this is Hound, Salone's- uh- companion." That was the right term for it, he supposed.

"He can talk?" she asked, seeming slightly horrified as she gaped at the thing in confusion. Obviously, she was pretty new to the whole demigod thing, even though she'd come to terms with the Geras portion of it. Riley laughed, turning to Hound.

"Whoops. Must have forgotten that part, but yes, she can talk. Hound, this is my sister Alison. Sorry she's so brash, she's not always like this... as far as I know."

Ali kind of still stood there gaping, but managed to glare at Riley at the same time. He ignored her, looking back to the dog. He was glad she had come to greet him, but he didn't quite get it.

"Is she still here?" he asked Hound, trying to suppress the glimmer of hope that shone in his eyes- along with the glimmer of apprehension. He wanted her to be here, of course, but he was scared of how she might react to his arrival. He certainly hadn't coped well with their break up, but at least he'd had the war to distract him. She was probably still pissed at him. He wouldn't really blame her.

Alison watched him carefully, curious. She had heard quite a bit about Salone, and she was concerned for his well-being. He'd given himself a bit of grief over the whole thing, and even though he hadn't let her see it all she knew that it was a sensitive subject. She almost didn't know what she thought of the girl, even though she hadn't met her. Riley only said great things about her, but Alison wasn't so sure. She seemed to be a bit clingy, if she really didn't want Riley to go support the rally against the organization that had attacked both of them.

Obviously, Alison didn't understand the scope of the whole situation.

Hound made a strange growling noise that could be interpreted by anyone who knew her well as a laugh.
"Your brother made the same mistake of calling me a he," She shook her coat, "I promised I would eat him the next time he made that mistake. But as your are young I will only lick you to death if you make that mistake."
Hound studied Riley with her dark eyes, "She is at her thinking tree, attempting to fend off some Aphrodite guy who magically showed up. He is very powerful."
If Riley wanted a ride from her, she would give it.
***
Salone stood stock still, she had backed herself into a corner, crapity, crap, crap.
"I have been loads of places and I am currently recovering from them." She answered calmly, looking up into his face. Her heart was racing inside her chest but that was because of his powers and Salone didn't trust herself at this moment. Several different scenarios ran through her head, if he kissed her with his powers she wouldn't be able to stop him... but she had other weapons.

Alison just looked confusedly at the dog before she finally resolved to let it be. "I think I'd prefer being eaten," she murmured with something of a smirk, laughing lightly and looking to Riley for support. He just shrugged, as if to say "This is what camp is like, get used to it."

Hound filled Riley in on the situation, and now he could see that Hound had some sort of a purpose in coming to them. She seemed to want him to come with her. "Attempting to fend him off?" He raised an eyebrow. That was kind of a good sign for him, but it didn't mean anything. He looked back to Alison, who was watching them intently. "I don't know how much good I'll do, but I can help if you'd like. Where are they?" he asked. He would have asked Hound to transport him there, but he knew it wasn't going to work. After his injury he knew that he was hardly capable of walking around, never mind jumping on the back of a six foot tall Hound. Alison might be able to help him, but he was going to spare himself of that embarrassment.

Speak of the girl, he glanced back toward her, realizing he was still carrying her bags. He'd promised to show her around camp, help her get settled, but if Salone was actually getting cornered and coerced by a powerful child of Aphrodite he didn't really think it was a good idea to waste time- especially if Hound had sought him out. Sure, Hound like him, but not so much that she'd just leave Salone randomly... or so he thought. Still, he felt guilty leaving Alison alone. "Maybe you can lead us there?" He raised an eyebrow. This was going to be interesting.

--

Salone's reaction was not what Samuel's subconscious had anticipated and he didn't move, but instead looked at her curiously. His exhaustion was beginning to weigh in and his powers were weakening, and he wasn't quite sure what he was going to do. He neither moved to get away from her nor made any advancements.

Salone stood rooted to the spot, the look in her eyes was daring him to just try. She had a vague idea what she would do and it would provide her some amusement.
***
Hound sat in front of him and sniffed his hair. She crinkled her nose before nodding and taking the bags gently between her teeth and then she threw them with her head and they vanished into thin air.
"I will retrieve them when we are done," She said and she flattened herself down on the ground so Riley could get on. She seemed to understand he would have difficulty. "It will be faster."
Flattened down on the ground she was about the height of a chair. Mentally she added, I am sorry.

Hound abruptly sniffed Riley's head, and it wasn't until she laid down on her haunches to let him on that he realized that she must have been able to sense his injury, or something. That disconcerted him slightly, but she was a dog. He shouldn't be that self-conscious. Alison opened her mouth to protest when the dog took the bags in her mouth, but they simply disappeared. "Wha-?" she began, before Riley informed her.

"They're being stored in the Duat... it's an Egyptian thing. I'll explain later," he said, and she nodded.

"You'll be alright?" she asked, gesturing to the dog, and he just gave her a look and got on the dog, trying to make his point- even if, okay, he did have the slightest bit of difficulty. She got on behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist tightly. It was obvious that she was nervous... hell, they were getting on an enormous dog.

"Don't worry," Riley said, laughing lightly. "You won't die... probably." He grinned, and before he knew it Hound had gotten up and taken off, sending them hurtling into darkness.

Meanwhile, Samuel leaned in slightly closer to Salone, trying to nip his apprehension in the butt. He was still acutely aware that she didn't necessarily want to kiss him, and he was just about to pull away when there were voices behind him. His head turned around, so he looked away from Salone, his palm still flat against the tree bark.

"So I hear you're trying to seduce my gir-ex, Cupid boy," Riley's voice said wryly, making a face as he realized the boy was shirtless beneath his open track jacket. He'd had to force himself not to say girlfriend. He'd managed to get off of Hound, even though he'd stumbled in doing so. Alison had steadied him, and now she watched apprehensively next to Hound as Riley moved toward the couple. "I'm not sure you're quite her type."

The color drained from Samuel's face and he stepped backwards, away from Salone.