[New Olympus] Wilds

[Bloodedge]

Two weeks later, as Deianira and Invi conversed once more, it seemed Athos was not at home for a change. He had gone off to take care of a few errands and make a discovery or two. Now, though, he was returning early in the morning, under shroud of what darkness remained as the sun began to warm the Earth's surface from the horizon. As he approached the lake, he hissed to call for Invi. "Invi, where are you? I know what I need!" he said. On his path, he scanned the woods left and right. He'd known the demigod who saw him last had been reappearing over the past couple of weeks, but little did he know, she had been conversing with Invi all along.

[Apollymi]

Deianira was indeed around again, this time she sat near the edge of the lake right before sunrise. She'd just come off her own hunt, and was presently standing over the carcass of some large beast which looked a bit like an elk, but one of greater muscle than one would expect of a creature such as that. "Oh, yeah, Invi~ I brought ya' something. I know how snakes like to warm themselves after a meal, and since the sun is almost up~" the young woman produced a large rodent which looked a bit like a chipmunk or a large mouse. Surprisingly enough it didn't seem at all worried and was quite happy. "Don't worry, I only dosed it a little so it won't run, it won't make you drunk anything. Well, unless you wanna be drunk, I could force it to drink more~" she said placing the offering of a slightly drunken rodent before the albino snake she'd befriended in the stead of the young man whom she'd originally tried to befriend in the first place.

[Bloodedge]

"Did you? How considerate," the large snake hissed. She sat upon the very same rock she'd been upon during the first meeting with this particular demigod; it could be considered her basking stone of choice, in a way. With the rodent placed before her, Invi's jaw unhinged, and bared fangs sank into the prey's flesh without a moment of unnecessary hesitation. A few additional movements forced the creature down Invi's throat, until her mouth was able to close properly again. It was then that she heard the call of Athos. "I've never been drunk, but I don't think now is the time. He's back," she said. As if on cue, Athos stepped into view from around a tree that obscured his otherwise straightforward path. While he intended to continue forward, he saw another individual in Invi's presence. It was that girl again. Athos paused briefly, turning his head away when he started walking around the two to approach his lake. En route, he hissed a few additional words with the intention of having them reach Invi's ear. "I can't believe you. You're the one that's been keeping her around here?"

[Apollymi]

"Aww, it was nothing. Can't let a friend go hungry, especially not when I'm about to give feast to everyone else," she said, having the full intention of dragging this particular beast back to her lonely cabin in the woods and dressing it properly before leaving it as offering to rest of the children on New Olympus. Meat wasn't really hard to come by for her, and she didn't like to waste anything and knew when she killed this one she wouldn't be able to eat it all herself. She then got to watch as the albino snake consumed its meal. Only to watch as it seemed to finish in record time and mention that her brother was back and looking for her. "Oh well, some other time then, you'll let me know if you change your mind right?" she said offering the snake a wink. Over the couple of weeks she'd been visiting with this snake, the boy the serpent spent most of its time with, still hadn't warmed up to her. At this point, Deianira wasn't holding out much hope for him. He turned his head away and headed for his lake once more which only made the young woman chuckle just a bit as he seemed to have something in passing to say to his snake companion. "You know, I'm not coming here just to talk to her. She's just the only one who seems to enjoy my company~" she said, hinting at the fact that she always knew what the lad said aloud to his sister snake while she was in their presence.

[Bloodedge]

"Of course. If I'm willing to try something new, I'll let you know right away," was the last thing Invi said prior to Athos' return. When Athos spoke to his serpentine "sibling" of sorts, he thought he did so in a way that would not be understood by anyone else. Deianira's speech proved this to be an inaccurate train of thought, as she spoke in response to what he'd so recently said. Athos' eye widened, but did not shift toward the female demigod. He did, however, speak with a human tongue for the first time in ages. "You... speak Snake Tongue?"

[Apollymi]

A quick nod came from the daughter of Dionysus, she was glad to have at least someone trying new things every once in a while. She'd come to find the albino snake companion of one of the newest demigods to be one of the most personable companion pets aside from her own. After which she was in for quite the surprise as it seemed her words to the still unknown lad brought about something from him she wasn't sure he had, his voice. Surprise moved across the young woman's face as her head tilted in his direction. "Oh? There's actually a voice in there, that's good~ I was starting to wonder..." she said thinking of the best way to answer his question, a small smile came to her face. "Yep, snake, boar, elk, wolf, human... I speak all animal languages~ Though I don't often get to speak to snakes, so I was enjoying my chats with Invi while waiting to see if you'd come around. I'm Deianira, by the way, nice to meet you~" the young woman said as she paused seeing how this moment had finally come she couldn't well just drag away her most recent prey until she was sure this young demigod was done speaking.

[Bloodedge]

"... Oh." For whatever reason, the white-haired boy seemed saddened by the knowledge that Deianira spoke not just to snakes, but any animal she chose to converse with. He had made an assumption about her when she understood his earlier hissing, but that train of thought was crushed by this new information. The son of Poseidon's body trembled ever so slightly and briefly, and he seemed to gain some small amount of tension as his head turned away further. He'd seen a beacon, but its light was false. Now, all he could do was wonder what this girl had been doing here for so long, if she wasn't what he'd initially thought. "What... What do you want with us? We just want to be left alone."

[Apollymi]

Deianira watched as the white haired boy seemed saddened for some reason. She couldn't quite pinpoint it, but she was rather happy just the same, and for several different reasons. The first of which was simply because she was always happy, the second was a bit more hidden than that... Still, the young man finally spoke up he seemed to just be distraught by her presence. Of course, she sort of expected this, given her chats with Invi she knew this lad wasn't all together trusting but given the words straight from his own mouth she could only shake her head from left to right. "I don't want anything at all. Like I told Invi the day we met. I'm not pushy enough to make you talk to me, so you don't have to if you don't want to. But getting used to new places is hard on people, so if you decided you wanted to talk I'd be around. I spend more time in the Wilds than anyone else, well aside from you now, since you live out here~" she said with the normal amount of conviction she seemed to possess. "Besides, I don't often get to talk to snakes~"

[Bloodedge]

"You've been here for two weeks. You're saying you were here just to talk?" Athos asked, though he didn't seem all too interested in whatever response would come. He was among the newest residents of New Olympus, and thought himself to be the only inhabitant of this wooded area for some time; however, he was now being told this was not the case, as Deianira apparently frequented this location more than he would have liked. This information was quite disturbing to the son of Poseidon, making him wish to immediately relocate himself and the serpent Invi to avoid further contact with this demigod. "I can't talk to people. I'll find somewhere else to live."

[Apollymi]

Deianira smiled at this young man's comments, he seemed to have some problem with the idea that she was around just to talk, and didn't seem to understand what she meant by her words. He even went so far as to say that he'd simply leave the area then, because he was incapable of talking to people. "You're not hearing me, I said, I was around in case you wanted to talk~ My hunting cabin is way too far out for me to take this route for my own amusement, well... unless I wanted to go swimming," she mentioned seeming to find the young man's need to move a bit problematic. "Do what you want, but you don't have to move... since you've been here I've kind of been redirecting the Wilds around you... you know to respect your privacy~ I don't actually live here, I hunt here and protecting this place is my job. So as long as you're here, you're included," the young woman said, as she shifted her grip on her prize for the day and prepared to leave. "For the record, I think you've done a fine job talking to a person~ And if you're going to move, I'd suggest your parent's house... it would save you some trouble decorating since they're made for their children~"

[Bloodedge]

"A fisherman doesn't cast his line repeatedly because the fish want to be caught," the boy said as his head turned away further. He didn't care much for Deianira's reason in hanging around so long, nor did he care that she had been redirecting the wildlife of this location to offer him privacy from the animals. His only concern was solitude, and he could not have a sensation of that while knowing someone knew his location. This made things especially bothersome for the male when he was told he could stay in his parental deity's dedicated location in New Olympus. Athos seemed shocked at first, but this quickly became an expression of disinterest again. "I... can't stay there. It wouldn't be good. I..." He paused, addressing a different subject. He couldn't lie; being in this place alone was hindering his progress. There was another place he would much rather have gone, and he intended to return. On the other hand, he would not be able to do so without meeting a certain requirement. As such, he chose to swallow his inhibitions if only for long enough to seek aide in gaining the thing he required. "... I need a weapon."

[Apollymi]

When the boy finally spoke again, it was a contradictory anecdote about fishing. This statement initially gave Deianira a bit of a pause but when she thought about it more, a giggle escaped her. "If you say so, I am not much of a fisherman myself. I'll take your word for it~" she said seeming to be in good spirits, having managed to get more than a few passing words out of the lad on her first attempt, which is something she wasn't sure was going to work out in the first place. She'd had two weeks to ponder this lad's existence and she still wasn't sure of anything about him, the combination of things he did, made it impossible for her to guess at his parentage and she hadn't been the type to pry about it when speaking to Invi. Thus the young man was shrouded in mystery which only seemed to deepen when his face shifted at the idea of living in his parental deity's home. The disinterest soon returned and the young man actually furthered his explanation.

"Uh...huh... If you say so..." there were a couple of kids who didn't like their parents houses, mostly it was sibling related disputes and the like which made them unhappy, but this one made it sound like it was something else entirely. The next thing he said left the young woman a bit stunned her head leaning ever so slightly to the left. "You..." a pause came. "Need a weapon? I assume you don't just mean a normal one... I'd suggest one of two things, though both are a bit dangerous," she said seeming to think about it a bit more while offering up an honest opinion. "Completing a trial or entering into a pact with a specific god or goddess can grant the person who does it a mythical or powerful weapon. Though, those usually come at a great cost. I got my bow on such an agreement," she said. "Or you could go to Lemnos and roll the dice on finding the Smith God in a good mood. I've heard it's possible to get a weapon directly from him if you get the materials for it and he feels like doing stuff, if you want to try that route." she said coming off the information without much problem as it was one of many things talked about between the children on New Olympus.

[Bloodedge]

Taking the hit to his own methods proved immediately beneficial to Athos. He was given not one, but two methods of obtaining a powerful weapon of some sort. While neither of these options were very appealing to the lad, one involved potentially dealing with multiple individuals, while the other only required him to address one god who'd been virtually shunned by the others. This was the most reasonable route, and with that in mind, he chose to set out immediately. Without speaking another word to the huntress, he readied the satchel granted to him by Hermes, turned away, and began walking out of the wilds of New Olympus.

[Apollymi]

"You're welcome~" she chimed to Athos who'd left without even offering thanks for the information he likely wouldn't have known how to find. Once the young man took his leave of the Wilds Deianira smirked. She had no idea which method he'd choose to use, but she was happy to help unlike most. A yawn would escape the young woman but she moved on from that, dragging along her prey back to the hunting cabin built for her several miles across the forest. Once there she dressed the animal. Skinning it and chopping it up in several different cuts which she wrapped and put into cold storage within the cabin which she intended to present to the masses of New Olympus a bit before dinner time. Soon after she found herself stripping out of her soiled clothing leaving it in random heaps of strips and leather all across the floor taking down her hair pin before settling into the warm silence of this place and taking a rest just as the sun reached its proper crest. A large goblet beside the hammock she intended to sleep in filled at her touch. 'Woo... busy day, but progress~' she thought as she drank to her own successes no matter how minor they were, before climbing into the hammock naked to swing herself into a gentle sleep. She'd sleep here for a great amount of time, unless something happened to wake her.

[Bloodedge]

Roughly 2.5 days after the departure of Athos, the recently disheartened lad came wandering through the wilds once more. He had hopes of receiving a tool from Hephaestus to further his personal goals, but the plan had gone awry due to his inability to properly converse with the god. While this was quite the bane, Athos was only really reduced to the life he'd been living for a couple of weeks now. As such, he made his way toward the lake he'd made a home of, with nothing to show for his efforts.