The sun, the surf, and the nagging soreness from a gunshot wound [open]

Etrius sat on the beach. No, he was not there to swim, Loyd would never allow that, especially since his gunshot wound hadn't healed yet. No, instead he sat on a small outcropping of rock and looked out over the blue ocean. He was in his standard suit and had his medicinal stick in his mouth, he had petitioned Loyd to make them look a little less like cigarettes but when he saw the alternative pink version, he had decided that he would not be caught dead using them. So here he was with a smoking white and yellow cigarette like thing in his mouth.

He sighed and rubbed the crossbow lying next to him. Boring, boring camp. He looked out over the ocean again. Somewhere out there was the CFNS Albatross, his flagship that he was not on and wouldn't be allowed on until his old wound was 100% better. He rolled his shoulder, feeling the soreness and sighed again. Boring, boring, boring camp.

Etrius was snapped out of his staring by a voice and looked over to the side and saw a young girl off to the side. He gave a light smile at her. "Well hello there. Who would you be?" He asked as he picked up the crossbow and slid it onto his back. A weapon in his hand was much more intimidating than a weapon on his back, well, that's what his gunny from high school NJROTC told him.

Etrius's got up and jumped off the rock to walk over to the now identified Lilian. "Who might I be?" He asked rhetorically. "I'm Etrius. I was injured in a fight so I have to stay down for a while but I just can't stand the rest of the kids in the Ares cabin, I swear, it's like I'm the only one of that . . . Man's kids with two brain cells to rub together." He said, as he rubbed the shoulder wound again, normally he would be rubbing his temples when he thought of the rest of hi brethren but he was smiling right now and he didn't want to ruin it with a frown.

"Anyway Lilian, what are you doing here? You never know when one of those bloodthirsty brutes might be spoiling for a fight, you might get hurt."

"I do not doubt you could defend yourself." Said Etrius light-heartedly. "But all it takes is a lucky hit and you could be hurt pretty badly." He pointed out, still giving a smile. After all, he knew that a stroke of good or bad luck could so amazing things, he had fallen victim to bad luck several times and he also had hi moments where he had been saved by good luck as well.

Etrius chuckled a bit, clearly entertained. "Such patience in someone so young, it's rather enlightening. However, you must remember that luck always has a hand in everything. You could be a bit sore from another fight previously, you could be tired, angry, or you could simply be overconfident. All people make mistakes, take it from someone who knows." He replied sagely.

"Do you see this?" He asked and pulled down his shirt collar to reveal a rather nasty scar on his right collarbone. "I got this because the enemy saw me first and took the shot. In the end, I got him because I had the better aim, but he got me because he had better luck."

Etrius chuckled again and reached up to put a hand on her head. "You're not being annoying. You're interesting to me. I think kinda like you kid." He said and ruffled Lilian's hair in a good natured manner. She was actually pretty cute for a kid, he wouldn't go for her like that, more like she was cute in a puppy dog sort of way.

Etrius flinched a bit. He naturally didn't like Aphrodite children, when he was introduced as a son of Ares, he was introduced to the Aphroditzes as well and found that the overwhelming majority were dumb muscle minus the muscle. Most of them were always too busy with their hair or some other useless drivel to do anything productive, heck, most of the time they could have funneled into things like studies or perhaps even practice were devoted to fixing the minuscule to non-existent problems with their hair or clothing.

This kid however was quite refreshing, the hair thing was understandable, girls tended to be like that at her age anyway, and she seemed to be reasonably intelligent.

"Well" He said as he retracted his hand. "I can't really practice right now because I'm still recovering from taking a high caliber bullet to the shoulder. Doc would kill me if he found out I was going against his orders. Really, I saw him strangle a guy with a stethoscope once, it was an experience, you had to be there."

He chuckled a bit more. "And besides, I only have problems with the vast majority of your brothers and sisters, the reasonably intelligent ones are fine. It's just like with my brethren, as long as they have two brain cells to rub together I'm good."

"It's good to see one so young and yet so smart. You've got guts kid, now if only you could spread it to your brothers and sisters, that would be great." He said cheerily. He smirked a bit. "Also kid, remember that a weapon deserves respect, don't draw it unless you intend to draw blood."

Etrius felt a sweatdrop form as he looked awkwardly at the kid. "Uh, I know I walked in front of a high caliber sniper rifle but I'm not suicidal. Do you really think I could take that sword from you in my condition?" He asked. His condition actually wasn't that bad, what kept him from being more active at the moment was not that his shoulder was bad, no, what kept him down was the doctor's orders. He did not feel like being strangulated by a stethoscope any more than the next man.

"Well I'm sorry kid. I guess I'm just suffering from crotchety old veteran syndrome. If I ever start ranting about my time in 'nam, I fully expect you to slap me in the face." He said with a smile and in a light tone that was only a little bit patronizing but also fully serious at the same time. "It's either that or I need a new prescription."

Etrius watched her proceed down the beach, just standing there until the was almost out of sight before he turned his back and began to walk back towards the camp. It was an interesting encounter, not the most exciting, but he was really getting a bit sick of his constant fighting and something peaceful was exactly what he needed.

He stopped just as he was about to enter the camp's main grounds and looked off down the beach, searching for one last glimpse of the elusive Competent Aphrodite kid but he couldn't see anything. "You interest me kid." He whispered to himself. "Grow strong, and don't regret anything."

And with that he didn't look back again.

[Etrius exits]