The Himalayas

[Bloodedge]

The question of his water-related powers initially went unanswered. This remained the case for likely far too long, but soon, something happened. The Minotaur woke from its slumber, and began moving around and slamming against walls in a way that resembled any wild beast trying to free itself from its confines during the early stages of entrapment. Due to these seemingly irrational maneuvers of the Minotaur, Athos was barely able to remain on its back. Such an annoying ordeal made the boy a bit more cooperative than he had been in previous moments. "If I wanted it to not freeze, I'd have to make a lot. There air is too dry here otherwise."

[Apollymi]

Deianira managed to maintain her balance, mostly by hanging on to a large protrusion which came out of the back of the creature. For all its movements it hadn't noticed the pair on top of it yet, but still it persisted. It seemed this particular setback was enough to make the demigod Athos work a bit more cooperatively as he'd gone a very long time without answering Deianira in the first place. "Freezing for a little bit would be a problem but, if you make a lot... I can make sure it won't freeze, and make sure this one actually drowns in it~" she said pointing down at the Minotaur. She could have poisoned it with arrows but that would have been a harder task considering what this beasts skin was like.

The beasts frustrations seemed to calm a bit, as it stopped picking at the walk it faced and turned around it began moving across the cavern, in a smooth but seemingly aimless manner. This would give the pair of demigods enough time to start work on their plan before after a few more moments of pacing the beast ran into the wall opposite of it. Shaking the pair on the platform and causing Deianira's eyes to widen slightly as she realized why this creature had yet to escape and how it'd ended up trapped in the first place. Slippery hoofs covered in ice beat against an already smooth floor as it was unable to make its way out of this place. It seemed to be working itself towards a more frenzied state, which wouldn't be good at all for the pair of demigods stuck here.

[Bloodedge]

"... Fine." While using his right hand to balance himself atop the beast's back, Athos reached into the satchel granted to him by Hermes with his left hand. He soon removed from the satchel a conch shell with a mystical glow about it. By channeling his power into the shell, Athos caused it to immediately spew a great torrent of water with the ferocity of a pressure washer. His own manipulation of this water allowed him to spread it in a way that cut the danger factor, while still beginning to flood the cave at a very rapid pace.

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Athos would be fine with the plan that Deianira had thought up. Though it wasn't necessarily what he would have been going for before it was at least something which would likely not get them both killed. As water began to fill the cave, the beasts pacing began to reach new stressed heights. Beyond this it began ramming itself into things. Finally when none of its other abilities worked it began charging the beam in its chest, about the time its feet wouldn't have been enough to keep its head above water. Deianira took this as an opportunity to stick both of her hands into the rising water from the platform. Doing so allowed her to channel her abilities directly into the water at their maximum potential spreading a rather addictive golden liquid throughout it until this was what the cabin was seemingly filled with. The beast still struggled but being atop it in the water made it easier to not feel the full thrashing. As it released the beam from its chest, it found that the water wasn't freezing and it panicked splashing about as if trying to teach its rather sturdy legs how to swim. But that wouldn't be allowed either, as Deianira soon moved forward jumping on the creatures head to cause it to taste the liquid created beneath it. Whether the water continued to flow or not it was already too potent. The moment the liquid hit the beasts open mouth it would no longer be able to stop itself from consuming. Its head was under water drinking down the contents more and more, not breathing not pausing just drinking until it could drink no more and drowned. The beast died the magical light within it fading, Deianira looked around and frowned. 'What a waste...' she thought to herself at the wasted liquor used specifically to kill a Minotaur and not for the making of merry.

[Bloodedge]

Athos could only wonder what the lass Deianira intended to do with the water he'd produced. The result was the production of the lass' liquor within the water. Athos looked into the golden fluid with much curiosity. He wondered what this could possibly do to the Minotaur, but he soon got confirmation. The Minotaur's constant consumption led to its untimely demise. The pair of demigods were then left standing atop its now floating corpse, roughly thirty feet below the surface above. Water continued pouring from the conch for the sake of raising the Minotaur, and the demigods by association, to the top of the cave. "Why did it not stop drinking?" Athos wondered aloud while leaning over the Minotaur's back and scooping up liquor with his hand to taste.

[Apollymi]

Deianira felt the sensation that they were rising likely because the lad was still filling this place, which was good because it was the only way they were going to get out. As this happened Athos finally spoke of his own accord again, and when he did, it was a question of why the beast didn't stop drinking, the girl then saw the lad scooping at the liquid as if he wished to drink. "Don't drink that!" she said running her hand over her face. "It didn't stop drinking because it didn't want to, that's what it does when I don't control it. It becomes so addictive that beings, man and beast, will drink themselves to death. Just to keep tasting it..." she finished seeming to think nothing of this, but she knew it to be a frightening thing that most people didn't really understand. "The same is true of me, well in the general sense. I tend to be addictive for people because they feel blissful around me and thus are inclined to constantly be in my presence," she said as they rose.

[Bloodedge]

Athos heard Deianira's warning to not drink the liquid, but he had already poured some of it into his mouth and swallowed it. Her explanation about the liquor was confusing to him. He continued drinking, but in no way did he feel like he needed to have more than what he was already drinking. He drank all of four handfuls of the golden nectar, then stopped when the water level reached the surface of the cave. At this time, the liquor overflowed, washing the beast they were upon ashore. "I don't feel blissful or addicted. I only drank it to warm myself. I still want you to go away from me."

[Apollymi]

Deianira likely wouldn't have stopped the boy from attempting anything he wanted to do. Given this she was more than a bit surprised when the boy and drank and kept drinking, she was surmising that she might need to stop him herself, but after four handfuls he stopped of his own accord, causing the girl's eyes to widen slightly. After this though a smile settled on her face as he went on to say that he didn't really understand what she meant because he didn't feel blissful around her nor addicted to her. As he kept talking he went on to say that he still wanted her to leave which made her smirk just a little. "Aww, Come on. I'm not that bad, and totally I thought we were past that by now~" she said seemingly amused by the whole situation. In truth she was quite relieved the boy still wanted her to go away, because it meant that she could properly become his friend.

His tolerance for her presence though was a bit curious, only the strongest of the New Olympian children seemed to be capable of such a thing, and only the ones with other passive abilities showed a great resistance for her mood altering. Though it was nice to meet someone normal who was immune it only served to spark curiosity. They were now pretty much free to go, and she was left but to wait for the boy to claim his prize. Her feet moving lightly over the snow as she wrapped her arms around herself in the hopes of retaining a bit of warmth, she was freezing in this place. 'What a strange thing, gorgon kid immune to me... I wonder why?' she questioned her eyes wandering over the lad as she tried to consider what strange combination of beings would create someone like him, but coming up with nothing which made any sense.

[Bloodedge]

"I've been putting up with you being around. I don't want to be around anyone," he said. Even though it had never been the case that Athos hated people, he simply could not be in the presence of others for his own reasons. He was, very much, a recluse by choice. He intended to stay that way. With nothing more to say immediately, he hopped off the front of the Minotaur, and turned to reach out for its horn. A quick test pull let him know that it would be impossible to remove the horn, even with the strength of his tail. The method he'd used to retrieve the Basilisk's fang would also not work, as he'd be incapable of piercing this particular Minotaur's flesh around the horn. His options seemed very limited, albeit not nonexistent. There was only one thing he could think to do, but... it was the last thing he'd want to do in the presence of someone who knew of his Gorgon blood.

[Apollymi]

"Obviously," the girl said of the boy's more than apparent desire to be alone. After all, he'd gone weeks without talking to her, and had only done so because he'd needed a bit of help. Knowing that he was pretty much a lost cause she'd almost left him be on the mountain. But his state of sadness and disappointment upon his failed trip to Hephaestus had made the girl want to help him reach his goal, regardless of his lack of desire to have her help. "Also ouch, that's unreasonably harsh considering," she teased though the statement was rather serious. "Don't worry, you'll be back to your hermit-ness soon enough, and ya' won't have to put up with me anymore," she stated rather simply.

She then went on to watch as he tried out and thought out different possible methods to remove the horns from this Minotaur with no obvious answers to how it could be done. To be honest she didn't have an immediate answer for it either, she'd figured it would be easiest to try and remove the head of it but that was simply her hunting experience speaking. There was the rather simple fact that they couldn't just keep a rotting beast head in a small row boat for an extended period of time. She spoke aloud about the beast since points of their actual work were easily discussed. "So, any ideas to remove the horns, 'cause I figure it'd be pretty easy to take its head off, but that doesn't do much about the everything else..." she said, there was probably something which could be done but the way this beast had been exposed to weathering made it a bit more like freezer burned meat than a flesh and blood creature.

[Bloodedge]

Athos was struck with a bout of minor depression when he realized there was literally only one thing he could do to get this Minotaur's horns off. If there was anything else he could think to do at all, he'd do it in a heartbeat. Now, though, to achieve his goals... he had to do this. He took a few steps away from the Minotaur, and utilized his conch shell once more to create great amounts of water in the area surrounding him. His control over said water allowed him to swirl it around himself as it was produced, forming a cyclone of water climbing high in the sky until he focused on the Minotaur. His right hand willed the water forward in a jet stream, at such an incredible velocity that it began to grind away at the Minotaur's body, eroding it over time. Even the powerful hide of a Minotaur proved to be an incompetent defense against the power of erosion by water, and as the son of Poseidon, Athos boasted such an incredible mastery over the water itself that he was able to grant it such strength to begin doing this. His aim was simple; he would use water to destroy everything about the Minotaur, bar its apparently indestructible horns.

[Apollymi]

Deianira was a bit surprised that no words came from the other lad at all, and he instead began to work. "Or ya' know, go back to the silence," she said most sarcastically. But soon enough that surprise was replaced by something else entirely, 'No...' she thought as the young lad began a bout of water manipulation which was well beyond what she'd expect of the son of a Nymph and any Gorgon. No this lad had something else going for him entirely and Deianira knew and understood it as she watched a beast's body get washed away. As this happened her eyes widened an extreme amount as she began piecing together the possible existence of this lad and now understood his abject secrecy. "Oh, I get it..." she said aloud at the end of her pondering and of course she didn't mean to so she immediately clapped a hand over her mouth as if she was confused by the utterance. Still to avoid any confusion she spoke again this time in her usual light tone. "So, just so we're clear... any questions I have about this will also get me the silent treatment?" she asked seeming not to care much about the answer one way or another. "I'm just saying, I didn't initially think your dad would be higher up on the Totem pole than mine. I figured you were just a really timid almost bestial..." she finished before holding her hands up in surrender. "Sorry, didn't really mean for that to come out that way but... what the hell man?" she asked excited by the prospect of this lad's powers and abilities being so strange, though now that she thought about it, there was something of a thing about Poseidon and one of the Gorgons and she imagined Athos' existence was probably something of an issue for someone, if it was actually the case she was thinking of.

[Bloodedge]

More and more of the Minotaur's body began disappearing while being pummeled with Athos' water torrent. It became a much easier task to accomplish once the outer shell was destroyed, but Athos' focus remained through and through. His eye glowed like the water reflecting the moon's light as all this occurred, and when the Minotaur was nothing more than a pair of large horns, Athos returned to normal, and his manipulated water returned to the conch shell. At that moment, Deianira's words met his ear, and his head sank. He looked away, and reached out to take up the Minotaur horns. Only one statement would be made before he began making way for the boat. "Poseidon wants to kill me."

Little did this pair know, there was another demigod ready to climb the mountain from below. It was a male, and another resident of New Olympus. He sported a rare armor gifted by the gods; coincidentally that of Poseidon. Sweeping crimson locks out of his face, he glanced up the mountain with crystal-blue eyes, as if wondering. "Huh. Nothing like having your job done for you," he mused.

[Apollymi]

Deianira expected no answer from the lad, in fact she was almost counting on it. So when he finished his task and reached for the Minotaur's horns only to speak a sentence she was well and truly shocked. The words themselves and their content seemed to strike her in a very odd way, and even she seemed to sober up a bit. "That's..." there was a pause from Deianira like she couldn't settle on the right words. "Fucked up, I'm sorry..." she said truly feeling apologetic for the boy's plight. She dealt with her own father's antics and found them annoying, but she knew the man had her best interest at heart, it was a wonder this boy was able to keep his life together knowing his own father wanted him dead. Even so, this wouldn't deter Deianira from the task at hand, now more than ever, she intended to help the lad as much as he could until he found his way back home.

She'd follow him back to the boat somberly not really knowing what to say for the first time in ages. She also had no clue of the other individual in the area, until of course he came into her line of vision. Her eyes widened as she saw crimson locks and golden armor. "Oh... what are you doing up here?" she asked coming to a stop on her way down hill, meeting a pair of crystal blue eyes with her silvery grey ones.

[Bloodedge]

Athos' head rose slightly, but also turned away from Deianira as he descended the mountain. Since she knew who and what he was now, he had shared this information regarding the situation with his father. He continued down the mountain silently, stopping only because Deianira had spoken to another individual at ground level. He did not know this individual, nor did he wish to, but it was apparently strange that he was here. "Really? It was you?" the red-haired male questioned. "I'm here visiting my father. There's been a Minotaur making a lot of problems for the area, so I agreed to deal with it on my way out. But... it doesn't look like I have to do that. So, thanks to you guys for dealing with that. You must be going to see Hephaestus, having those horns on you," he said, looking toward Athos, but garnering no form of response from the lad.