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

Salone's face stayed calm as she ducked out from under Samuel's arm.
"I can take care of myself," She told Hound, with her hands on her hips. She avoided looking at Riley and his sister. It had been months since she had last seen him and he... well... her stomach flipped slightly at the sight of him and she could read the emotion on Hound's face as well as her own or Danni's.
Her lip curled faintly in disgust, "You don't need to worry, I am not going to pass out on you."
Hound didn't believe her one bit and the girl could tell. Salone's eyes narrowed and suddenly she was an emotionless block of stone again.
"Fine then," She turns back to Samuel, "Sorry for my intellectually challenged Hound, she still coddles me."
She turned back around when she said this, "Even though my health is totally fine."

"That's... good, I suppose." Salone was being strange, and Samuel didn't know what to do, not with this relatively built guy standing here with that huge jackal-dog thing, claiming to be Salone's ex-boyfriend. Suddenly Salone was acting like she wanted him there, but he could tell it was a sham. He'd been mistaken to even make a move on her, and now he was exhausted from all of his power usage, and so he sighed and took a couple of steps away.

"Goodbye, Salone," he said. He felt like he should apologize, but that'd be inappropriate in front of this guy. He walked into the forest, back towards camp, but turned back to peek at them once he was far enough away. He was insanely curious about the guy that'd randomly showed up.

Riley had no idea what to think. Salone was pointedly ignoring him and scolding Hound for bringing him here, and it was understandable, but it still made Riley want to be sick with guilt. He should have figured that Salone might want to be with this guy. Maybe Hound didn't like him, and so she went and brought him back here just to screw with her mind? He couldn't see Hound doing that, but it was a possibility. It took him a few seconds to work up the nerve to talk. He forced himself to remember the flash of recognition on her face when she saw him, the raw emotion that told him that she wasn't completely cold to him... even if she'd immediately covered it up.

"Well, that was... interesting," Riley stated, looking back to the trees where the Aphrodite boy had left. "I'm sorry, if I was intruding on anything. Hound told me he was trying to manipulate you, and... I don't know. I shouldn't have come here, maybe, but we were going to run into each other sooner or later."

He let a certain amount of emotion leak through his voice, even though he tried to suppress it as best as he could.

Alison watched the two from a distance, scrutinizing the girl with her eyes. She still had no idea what to think. She was just concerned for Riley's mental health, because he'd put himself through enough already.

Salone massaged her forehead finally acknowledging him. "He was but he was tiring, I could have handled myself. Just because of the scare doesn't mean I am completely helpless! And what Hound did was rude."
Her jaw tightened and a gust wind blew though the forest. She shoved her hands in her pocket, suddenly feeling exhausted. She sat down on the ground and looked at Hound, her face expressionless. She didn't have any energy to argue anymore.

"I didn't know!" Riley protested, even though he knew it would only make things worse. "For all I was told, he could have been hurting you. I couldn't just stand there," he said, his voice softening.

"Anyway, I'm back. I don't know if you know, but the organization was taken down." He looked down at Salone, the guilt threatening to swallow him whole. She was pissed at him, and she had every right to be, but it made him so mad at himself. He felt like maybe he should sit down beside her, but that wasn't going to go over that well, and he didn't know how welcome he was. Instead, he leaned back on his good heel. Someone cleared his throat behind him, and he turned to see that Alison had approached and she stood at his shoulder, looking at her brother expectantly.


"Jeez, Ali, you couldn't have waited?" he asked, lightening, and her eyes flashed with a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

"Since Riley didn't seem to want to introduce me to you, I'm Alison," she said, analyzing Salone carefully. The girl didn't seem to want to be bothered with anyone right now, and Alison was still getting bad vibes from her.

A walk through the forest. Seemed like Eli hadn't taken one for a while..and really he hadn't. What with the running into Salone again, and then almost losing his head, he'd mostly been spending his time eating at the beach and then sleeping, training his powers and physical skill here and there along the way. It felt nice to return to the thick of nature again, the birds and other forest animals putting him in another state of calm.

But the calm wasn't lasting very well. He could hear voices. People's voices, and they weren't far from where he was. He thought he could recognize one of the voices, but he didn't want to assume. So he uncorked his gord and manipulated a decent bit of sand to follow behind him as he moved to the people.

Soon he came to an opening and saw the people. Salone...a guy, and another girl. Hound was there as well so he knew that he wouldn't be able to hide for long. He just used his current covert position to manipulate the sand back into his gord.

Salone looked up at Riley, "I'm not mad at you for this situation. If anyone I am blaming Hound." Her head was ringing faintly. "I also know about the explosion, Danni told me." If anything she sounded sad and a little tired.
The way he said it made her heart crumble a little more, something had happened. She looked down into her lap for a moment before looking back up at Alison.
"Guess I am not making the best first impression," She offered a wan smile at the girl before picking up a pile of leaves and she began shredding them. "I am Salone."

"Danielle?" Riley asked with interest. Surprisingly enough, he hadn't spoken to her much while he was working to get rid of the organization. It figured... after everything she'd gone through with that, he'd thought she wouldn't want much to do with it anymore. He wondered vaguely if she knew about his injury, and he supposed that she did, as he knew about most of the other injuries and deaths.

"Right. She would know. But yes, this is Alison, my sister," Riley introduced her, clarifying the situation and giving her a pointed look. He didn't know what to think of Salone and this whole situation. It pained him to look at her, because he knew that he was nowhere close to being over her. He almost wished he could be alone with her, without his little sister hanging over him like a lost, overprotective little puppy. It wasn't that he didn't love having a sister, but he needed to talk to Salone... though he wasn't sure now was the best time.

"It's fine," Alison answered Salone, dropping her gaze and lessening her criticism when she met the girl's eyes. She should probably cut the girl some slack. "But I know who you are... couldn't very well get Riley to shut up about you." She smirked slightly, but she was aware she was going to affect Riley with that comment. He turned beet red, looking at the ground. It was a cut, deeper than she'd normally make, especially with a stranger, but he was her brother. She'd listened to him agonize over this girl for months, and she wasn't going to let him get away so easily.

"Don't worry," Riley said, recovering. "I didn't tell her that much about you." Okay, maybe he was lying, but Salone was being weird and he didn't want to make her angry.

"Come on, Riley," Alison said, teasing him, and he was about to utter a remark of protest when she turned her head, looking back into the woods. She could have sworn she'd heard someone moving. "Hello?" she called, suddenly defensive. She had no idea where camp's borders ended, but she'd been on her guard about anyone suspicious since she'd been kidnapped.

Eli watched as the three talked back and worth, learning Riley and Alison's names in the process. He found it strange that Hound hadn't made any attention to him in the tree line, though it appeared by her stance that she and Salone were on poor terms at the moment. He wondered why, but he didn't let the thought stand for long.

He heard Alison say something about Riley not shutting up about Salone and he couldn't help but wonder if Riley was her boyfriend. He really hoped the answer was yes, or at least an ex that was getting to an end with Salone so they could move on. He didn't hope this for his own personal gain, Salone and him were long through and not getting together again anytime soon. He just...wanted Salone to be happy.

He must've made more noise than he realized because Alison turned her head to his direction and said a Hello out into the area, looking partially frightened, or nervous by the sound. He sighed, knowing he'd have to come out and slowly stepped out, letting some sand out of the gord and float around him.

"Hi." He said short and briefly

Salone nodded, "Yeah, she was one of the people pulling the strings behind the whole operation. She is due back anytime today, she has been in Italy with her dad."
At Alison's next comment her ears turned red, but they were hidden behind her freshly cut blonde hair and she bit her lip. At Alison's call of 'Hello,' Salone stood slowly twisting her head around. She backed up slightly her hand at her side closing on what looked like open air. She blinked in surprised when she saw Eli, "Hey."
She said, letting go of what ever weapon she had grabbed and it sank back into the Du'at.
"Good to see you have your head."
She was glad to see Eli, she was on friendly terms with him. She currently at the moment felt like every here was nipping at her ankles.

Alison stiffened, shifting towards Riley as some guy stepped into their clearing and scattered sand around himself... what the hell? Salone seemed to know who he was, though, and she felt slightly comforted by that fact. Riley didn't seem to know him, which confused her, and she watched him subtly as he took the boy in, and the way Salone reacted to him. She seemed happy at his presence, but she didn't know if Riley noticed. He could be terribly thick sometimes.

Riley had noticed, at least a little. Salone seemed kind of chummy with the guy, and granted Riley should have been happy that she was happy, but it made his stomach turn. Had she really moved on that quickly? It was what he'd been hoping for, but now that he was back here he didn't know if he could face it. He knew that he still loved Salone, and he wished he hadn't left in the first place, even though he knew he'd had to. He stood, uncomfortable, and forced himself to swallow down his anxiety. He put on a shade of calm that suited him and looked at the guy. "Hi," he said, kind of intervening in their conversation. "Uh... I'm Riley."

He could be so darn eloquent sometimes.

Eli smirked at her comment about his head. "Yeah, I'm glad to be all in one piece." He told Salone, and looked over at the other two. He noticed Riley looks all nervous and stiff, while Alison was scared.

"Hey, loosen up, we're all friends here. And is it the floating sand that's making your scared? Cause I can fix that." He said to them and then manipulated the sand back into the gord, closing it up tight. "There, all better." He said to her.

Eli smirked a bit at whatever stares he was getting and then shrugged a bit. "Well, my name is Eli. A friend of Salone's from a little while back." He said to the two of them.

Salone glanced between the two boys and back at Alison. She broke the tension by saying, "Did you get a chance to get moved into your cabin?"
She glanced nervously back between Riley and Eli and started for the way back to camp. The sooner they got moving the less awkward things would be. She smacked Hound lightly as she passed her and Hound pulled a face and fell to the back of the group.

Riley relaxed, forcing himself to be normal. He'd been freaking out over stupid things lately, since he'd hurt himself. He almost felt as if his experiences had just made him more paranoid instead of braver, though there was certainly some of that in the mix. "Scared of your floating sand?" Riley asked, slightly incredulous. He chuckled. "Maybe Ali's scared of that, because she's new to this whole demigod thing, but I've seen things a lot freakier than that." Alison flushed slightly and rolled her eyes, even though he was totally accurate.

"I'm fine," Alison said, fighting the urge to shove Riley. She knew that'd end badly, though, as they started to move toward the cabins. "But no, Riley got too caught up in being Superman to get me settled. I just got here... your dog threw my bags into the air and I haven't seen them since," she stated, raising an eyebrow as she replied to Salone lightly. Now it was Riley's turn to laugh. He and his sister were a sure match that could only be made in the heavens.

"Superman," he chided. "Right. You appreciated it when I got you out of your prison though, didn't you?" he asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her towards him teasingly, and she softened.

"That's different," she argued, letting it be, though some of her admiration for him shone through a little, even though she was desperately trying to keep up her facade.

They made their way back toward camp, and Riley was totally relaxed now, even as he wasn't sure what was going on with Salone. He'd figure it out with her, even if they didn't get back together. He was going to give himself a lot of grief in the process, though. Distracted, he'd lost track of what he was supposed to be thinking about, and in a split second he'd done what his sister had been trying to prevent him from doing. He stumbled and fell, loosing his stance on his good leg and his ability to manipulate his prosthetic. Of course this had to happen now, in front of Salone and her friend, Eli... who he'd grown to be pretty unconcerned about, since she seemed to have known him for a while.

Eli watched all the reactions of the people around him. Salone trying to leave, Riley being a macho man and then being a loving brother, and Alison being a loving sister in return. He noticed Riley lose his footing and falling down. He raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. The way Riley fell...it wasn't like just tripping over yourself. He fell in an awkward way, a way Eli had seen before, but didn't make mention of it back at the last time.

He glanced up at Hound who may or may not have returned his glance, but regardless, the beast had a knowing look, like Eli had. "You said Hound tossed your bags off somewhere? Was it in the forest?" Eli asked after the awkwardness had started to pass.

Salone chuckled lightly, turning around and walking backwards so she could address Alison properly "He does have a superhero complex doesn't he."
She paused for a fraction of a second when Riley tripped, concern flitting momentarily across her face. "I am guessing Hound threw them into the Du'at," She said lightly turning back around. Hound glanced at Eli as she drew even with him. She shook herself head to tail and trotted ahead.

"Definitely," Ali agreed with Salone before Riley tripped. "But yes, that's what Riley said." She caught the panic that'd flashed across her brother's face for a second before he managed to cover up for it. She knew that he probably wouldn't want to call much attention to himself right now, even though she'd probably told him a thousand times that people weren't going to judge him based on his limblessness. She was acutely aware of Eli and Salone's gazes on them as she held out her hand to help Riley up.

Riley managed, exceedingly embarrassed as he needed to take his little sister's hand to stand up. He managed to shift his weight onto his good leg and stand up, adjusting his prosthetic as he went. It looked pretty awkward and Salone would probably be suspicious, but he wasn't addressing this in front of that Eli kid. He didn't know him, and he barely wanted to talk about it with his sister, nevertheless with someone he'd just met. He wouldn't meet their eyes as he stood and took a step forward, releasing Alison's hand. "Thanks," he said softly before hardening his resolve once again.

"Yeah, her stuff's in the Duat," he said, less confident than before but sounding assured. "Where in the Duat... I've no idea, but it's there. We stayed at my mom's house for a while after everything, and Alison managed to scrounge up quite a few belongings. You know how my mom is, eager to cater to everyone who steps foot at her door," Riley stated, looking at Salone.

"It's not like I had any decent clothes to start with, and your mom did offer..." Alison said with a slight smirk, glad for the shift in the mood, even though Riley was looking at Salone and not directing the conversation at her.

Salone still cast a worried glance behind her every now and then but she continued walking, "I honestly have no idea were anything goes either. I kinda picture it as a giant library with shelves and stuff flying about by themselves. As long as there are no giant spiders I should be okay."
She smiled a bit at what Riley said next, "Let me guess, Grilled Cheese and Oreos?"
The barefoot girl lept over the stump in front of her and froze at the top of the hill.
"That stupid girl," She mumbled and she took off running. She had almost forgotten how fast she could move. In the courtyard bellow she could see a girl with fiery red hair crossing to her cabin in a pair of swimming shorts and her swimsuit top.
"SEND YOU TO TARTARUS AND BACK!" She called, ambushing her wet friend.
Danni screeched just a little bit in surprise before realizing who was hugging her. "I forgot, it's Thursday," She mumbled, returning her friends hug.
"When did you get here?" Salone demanded.
"About two hours ago," Danni answered sheepishly. "I was hungry and couldn't find you so I went to the mess hall-"
She stopped abruptly when she saw Salone looking at her stomach.
"Oh that," Danni shrugged, "Knife fight, the idiot was drunk." The scar stretched from the bottom of her bellybutton to her let hip.

Riley laughed, glad Salone didn't say anything about his spill... even though she and Alison were taking turns glancing at him concernedly. He'd met her eyes by accident when she looked back once, but he'd forced himself to cast away his eyes, though he wasn't really sure why.

"Grilled cheese and Oreos... that was an odd combination, wasn't it?" Riley spoke, catching up with the pair.

"Not as bad as the ice cream and ravioli combination you ate that one time," his sister added, and he laughed again.

"Don't even start with that; I was sick," Riley spoke, and she softened.

"I know. It was funny, though," she replied lightly. They had approached the hill, which Riley was dreading having to climb, when all of a sudden Salone muttered something beside him and took off running. He was confused for all of two seconds before he spotted Danielle at the top of the hill. He grinned, aware of how excited Salone would be to see her. He was glad to see her really happy for the first time since he'd returned.

"Who's that?" Alison asked, looking at him, and he replied quickly.

"That's Danielle... she's the one who had to pose as my fiancée," he said, and she nodded, understanding now. They began to climb the hill and Riley didn't have much of an issue, even though it took him longer than it should have and he looked slightly awkward.

"Hey," he greeted as he and Alison made it to the top of the hill. "Long time no see." He felt slightly awkward seeing her now, because she surely knew what he'd done and he didn't know how she'd feel about it. He hadn't even seen her in his time working for the FBI, which was slightly odd.

((Sorry no color, on my phone it's difficult))

((Yeah...impossible to keep up it seems...))

Eli leaves

Danni managed to disentangle herself from Salone's questions and prodding and walked up to Riley. She was still slightly damp but not to badly. She looked Riley up and down and made the decision that she wouldn't say anything about his injury. She had kept what happened to Salone a secret after all.
"Well," She said, arching an eyebrow. "If it isn't Casanova turned Soldier Boy."
She offered him a white smile before turning her gaze to Alison. "You must be Alison then."
Danni studied the girl with her unnatural blue eyes. The thing about Danni Salone found most unnerving was the fact she resembled Persephone. The exact same shape, size, and everything. Except for her hair and eye color, those were her fathers.
Salone noticed this when she saw Danni's profile.

Riley could practically feel Danielle's eyes raking over him, and he knew for sure that she was aware of what'd happened. All was confirmed as she addressed Alison, his sister. He just raised an eyebrow back at her, stifling laughter and silently thanking her for being quiet.

Alison watched the girl as she examined her, crossing her arms over her chest uncomfortably, even as she desperately tried to seem confident. "In the flesh," she confirmed. "But we were discussing this before, and I think my brother prefers to be called Superman rather than Soldier Boy." The girl grinned and Riley turned pink, recovering quickly.

"Gee, thanks," Riley replied, though he didn't appear to care much. Having been around his mother, and later Salone and Danielle, he was kind of used to being mocked. Being mocked by his sister was no different. "But really Danielle, it took you that long to draw that conclusion? We look so similar," he said, leaning closer to Alison, who moved away from him.

"Right," Alison replied. "We look similar, but I'm obviously the younger, more attractive Harry Potter to your Ron Weasley."

"That doesn't even make sense!" Riley protested.

In truth, Riley and Alison didn't look all that much alike. It seemed so, as they each had dark brown hair, the same skin tone, and brown eyes, but their facial features were pretty different from each other. They looked like siblings, but not like they were that related.

Danni's lips twitched but it was Salone who busted up laughing and she stopped with some difficulty.
"I need to go change," Danni said picking at her shorts, that were sticking to her skin. "I shall show you to were your cabin is shall I?" She asked Alison, looking pointedly at Riley.
Salone had moved away and was looking at the trees, they were starting to blossom with tiny white flowers. Hound followed after Danni and gently nosed Alison's shoulder as she passed. Hound being very old was rather a cuddly thing... which was slightly odd because she was Hound. Salone swung herself up in one of the trees in the courtyard and one leg dangled down and she swung it back and forth, thinking.

Riley laughed as well, but not as much as Salone. "I really don't like you sometimes," he told Alison, who just shot him a look. Danielle offered to show Alison to her cabin, and as much as Riley wanted to do so, he knew he had to talk to Salone and Danielle was giving him the chance to do that now. Alison looked to him questioningly and he nodded, and so she shrugged and, urged by Hound, started off down the hill after her. He looked back to Salone, who'd somehow managed to climb up a tree, and then over at Alison who'd mostly disappeared... even though she turned her head around to peek back at him. He couldn't help but laugh at her poorly hidden curiosity, but he ignored her and walked over to the base of the tree Salone had climbed.

"Well, that was subtle," he said blatantly, amusement in his voice as he looked out towards where Alison and Danielle had left them. Salone was up in the tree, which put him in an odd position by its trunk. He couldn't very well climb it, but he wasn't sure she wanted him to do that anyway. She was thinking, and it was quiet, and Riley, being ADHD, had to break the silence.

"How've you been?" he asked her, after a moment. It probably wasn't the best question to begin with, but it was the first thing that came to his mind.

"As well as can be expected," Salone answered after a long stretch of silence. She was being cryptic and she had good reason. She and Danni had gone to long lengths to keep what had happened to her a secret. "I am not as active as I used to be and had to drop my class. Then new teacher is apparently much more brutal than I was."
She let loose a wry smile before leaning back in the tree, her leg still dangling down and it was swinging back and forth like a pendulum. Her freshly cut hair blew into her face and she wiped it away.