halfbloodhill_logs | Closed Doors [Open in spite of Thread Name]

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Closed Doors [Open in spite of Thread Name]

Who: Callie, People who might find her.
What: Third Cohort's resident angry teen is being even less social.
When: Late Afternoon
Where: Amphitheater
Why: She takes (perceived) rejection very well.

Callie, if you can believe it, has been even less social now that she's been demoted. Any direct conversations she did her best to end quickly, she was... polite, but it was clearly forced. She'd also started varying her locations to hide out from other people. Part of it was the thought of getting out of here kept gnawing at the back of her mind, part of it was just avoiding the choice. The choice she didn't want to face.

Right now she was doing a paper map from her camera, marking out the places she's been. Something to keep her mind off things, she needed to do it anyway. A 'coverage map' she could show Dean would help them work out whatever favor she owes him, even if it isn't getting his car. But if they find a way around the magics of Trivia's children, she wanted to be ready. It hurt to even consider being trapped here by an 'ally.' When they were trapped due to the siege, that was one thing. But the Greeks who made it clear how much they owed for such hospitality now had this as a prison. How would they find the Red Room without sending out parties, how would they hunt down any information from within a barrier so tight it was meant to contain all manner of transit?

And with the walls tightening, all she really wanted was to find a space to be in peace, which was becoming more complicated with so many people and so few places to go. At least, for the moment, nobody seemed to keen on a talent show, or singing, so the theater seemed more than empty. And anyone who sought her out would look in the woods, Nike's cabin, or behind Cabin two.

She should be safe here for a little while, for whatever passed as safe anymore...

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Callie's luck wasn't entirely in - Ven spotted a patch of color that didn't match the theatre around it as he was flying (keeping away from the nymphs, since it was nearing Valentine's Day and some of them were getting really crazy). Upon a closer look, he saw Callie, sitting by herself. That wasn't surprising, really, since Callie had never liked crowds, or people in general, but Ven had seen her around enough lately to know that the punishment inflicted upon her had hurt her more than she wanted to acknowledge. Already anti-social, she was becoming a downright hermit, ducking away from any conversations and public interaction. He thought about it for a moment or two, then shrugged and let go of the winds so he could drop to the ground outside the amphitheatre. Walking in normally would likely be better than showing up in a cyclone.

He moved towards her, not trying to muffle his footsteps and not speaking until she acknowledges his presence herself.

Callie's pen moved over her project without looking up. She ignored the presence on the edge of the theater for a little while. They made no attempt to conceal themselves, and they were too far away for a sneak attack. If the one of the two Greek cabin counselors were to kill her it would simply prove in death what she was saying. The Graecus are undisciplined and untrustworthy. But odds were better she was being watched by a member of the Third. Nico would probably have announced himself in some way, Dean didn't seem the kind to be quiet and wait, Sojourner's footsteps are different...

Well, if they were going to leave, they would have by now. "Can I help you?"

No, he won't go away, and no, he wasn't Greek. And after eliminating all those people, Callie likely wouldn't be surprised that it was Ven when he spoke up, starting to walk over to her position.

"I saw you down here as I was flying over. You look like you could use some company."

"And what does that look like?" Callie retorted, still not looking up. She wasn't really in a mood for company and yet everyone insisted on it. She was expected to reach out when really what she wanted was some level of freedom.

"I don't need a babysitter, I'm within the confines of the prison. You can move along."

Ven shook his head as he sat down near her, not really close but not all that far off, either. Not that she would be able to see the gesture, but she'd have to look up at some point, right?

"Just that you could use some company." She looked lonely - he knew she was lonely. He also knew she would never, ever admit it. He didn't say anything else, though, just sat there with his own eyes half-closed as he watched the sky with his head tilted back, halfway lost in his own thoughts (but always aware of her) and waiting for her to say or do something on her own without him pushing her.

The problem with admitting to anything, a need, a hope, a desire, is now two people know. You would assume only the person you tell learns, but you learn too. And that is often more dangerous all around. So Callie didn't give him an answer. She didn't admit, but she didn't deny either.

And he still didn't leave.

"Aqua told me, so you can save any of that." Her words sharp as she tried to prevent any more attempts to save her. Or whatever everyone tried to do. It was all words, no substance, nothing she could label as proof they would save her if it was harder than talking.

And Ven honestly had no idea what she was talking about when she said that. His head came down once more and he looked at her with obvious confusion, because that seemed to be a complete non-sequitur and it didn't make a whole lot of sense. "What're you talking about?"

She'll respond with this look of 'really think about it, high flier.' Because there's really only one thing that would make sense as far as she knows. But as Ven shows he clearly hasn't gotten there she'll tell him straight.

"Your arrival at camp? How screwed up you were? That stuff, from the outside perspective," Callie didn't look at him while she brought this up. Mostly because she didn't know how much Aqua was suppose to mention about that. It can't be a secret, he was like that in public. She can't claim any of what she's done in the legion was confidential, right?

"Oh... all of that." He wasn't really surprised at the fact that Aqua had decided to share it with Callie - he'd already told her some himself, after all, and one would think it would be the kind of story that would give Callie some faith. After all, he'd been a messed-up kid, just looking for some sense in a world that was literally trying to kill him, and he'd risen above it and become a happy, productive member of (a very small) society. He shrugged, though; he hadn't asked Aqua to do that, and he can guess from Callie's reaction that the attempt to reach her hadn't gone all that well. She was just too... riled for it to sink in.

"I wasn't going to say anything more about it, not unless you asked. It's still... not really something I like to think about, much." He'd been so uncertain at that point in time, so close to breaking. If Lupa hadn't found him, he probably wouldn't have survived another three months on his own, likely because of a monster he couldn't evade. As the Legion grew, changed, and rotated, fewer people knew about what he'd been like when he arrived, and he'd found he preferred that.

"But I was wondering something - at Camp Jupiter, we couldn't leave there, either, unless you got official furlough from the praetors or were sent on a quest by the senate. So why is the same thing bothering you so much here?" It's an honest question, because he honestly can't see any difference, except that the Greek camp was smaller than the Roman. But it was the same experience, wasn't it?

Callie took the option that didn't involve going over either of their pasts, she wouldn't appreciate anyone throwing her past out to people. She can't be shown as a story of how 'it gets better,' also she found most people didn't understand without living through something like it.

"We had New Rome, which we couldn't go to all the time, but it was there." She'd been on furlough, and more than a few quests. There was so much more space, so many more faces. It wasn't home, but it wasn't a summer camp. It was built for a life, a place to stay for the long haul. "Here they made a huge deal out of having a cafe for Valentine's Day? There were plenty of places to eat around Market Street. It takes the world ending to decide they need to be on guard year round? Camp Jupiter never felt so... shut in. You know?"

What she was saying made sense, and he'd be lying if he said he didn't notice it too, to some degree. New Rome just... it not only felt bigger, it was bigger, and there was more to do. Camp Half-Blood was permanent, but it was built more or less as a rest stop for demigods and not as a place to found a life on. He wasn't entirely sure why that was; maybe the gods being more active on the Greek side made their children's lives more inherently dangerous, and so they just hadn't needed a place to found a life on.

But even as he puzzled her comments over, and nodded to agree with her conclusion, an idea began building in Ven's brain. She felt confined - well, no wonder, given her father and her powers, and now being cut off from those powers more or less. There wasn't anything he could do to change that, but maybe he could help in another way.

"They just made a big deal out of the café because they wanted to do something nice for people after the attacks. But hey, I've got an idea. It's the same one that Aqua did for me." He paused a moment to make sure he had her attention, then went on. "You don't feel like you can get away from everyone here and what they think the camp and the world and everything should be, right? So let's set up a space for you that's yours and yours alone. We've got a lot of tents up on Jupiter roof, I'll bring one down and you can set it up in the woods somewhere or wherever you want that will get you the space you want. And we'll get Chiron to okay it and make it a rule that no one can go in it or disturb it. So whenever you need to just get away from everyone and drop some stress you can go there and do whatever you want for awhile and no one can interfere."

Callie rolled her eyes, but a smile gave away she was just a bit amused by his suggestion, "That's a great idea, but I had it back when I was still in the Hermes cabin." Callie stood up and went to one of the archways at the edge of the amphitheater, for people to come into the stage from behind, instead of from the front. And put her hand against it.

The doorway shifted suddenly into a bit of woods, there was a small firepit, and something covered with a bit of canvas. A rock that was smoothed to sit on, and some wood that was probably meant for constructing something. "I had spent a few nights in the bunker the forge kids have here, but after their counselor found me in it he told me to build a Lean-To in the woods. I... it got to cold to do that yet. But I left some supplies out there and a doorway. So I can reach it from anywhere."

"I'm used to having to make my own privacy, and I don't want any of the Greek camp to know about it. I'm just glad I haven't needed it too much since I've been staying in the Nike cabin." The idea was great, but it still wasn't... freedom. The number of choices to be made in camp just never matched the choices to be made in Camp Jupiter, and New Rome was even more options for the child of Janus. "Besides, I wouldn't really know what to do with myself if I had real space of my own. I've never had my own room."

At least he tried. It was obvious to anyone who spent any time looking at the situation that Callie was very uncomfortable in the Greek camp, even outside her clashes with most of the campers. Ven understood that; it was smaller, more confined, and somehow less structured all at the same time. And while he was fine rolling with the punches and adapting to wherever he landed, Callie had gone through one too many punches to like how that sort of scenario turned out.

"It's gonna get warmer soon - do you want help with that when you're ready to build again?" It was the least he could do, was offer to help. She had to like the idea at least somewhat if she'd started it on her own initiative, so despite her other statement, there was still some value in it. "I haven't either - I was always sharing with another kid in the foster homes, and then with twenty other kids in the legion. But it's nice to just have a place where no one will bother you or even see you if you don't want them to."

"...If you want? I was limited in how much I could do on my own." Callie's not used to just... offers to help, but she can't exactly claim she could do all the work she wanted on her own. She honestly hoped that Nike didn't get around too much, so the cabin will stay relatively low population. And since it wasn't in honor of a God of Thieves, she'd be a little more comfortable with her stuff.

"Why do the Greeks bother, what's waiting for them if they make it?" In Camp Jupiter it was easy, it was part of why she felt... okay, she didn't really have much choice. In Juvie she'd have died to one of the many monsters there waiting for demigods who aren't protected by the Mists when things go wrong.

But once she got to Camp Jupiter there was something waiting after her time in the legion. Do her years of service, retire to New Rome, build a life for herself. It probably wouldn't be a very impressive life, but it'd be something her's. Finally being free of every other rule she had to abide by in her life. Here... there was nothing there, you get kicked to the mortal world with, what? You don't have a high school diploma, no money unless you have a parent waiting for you, no skills you can really shape your world with. What did the Greeks expect to come of their little... summer camp.

"I don't mind. It's fun to get out and just do something with your hands sometimes. Just physical work that doesn't need a lot of thinking." There's so much going on around camp lately that could fry a person's brain if they let it, so it was kind of a relief to concentrate on those things he didn't need to think about. Even the Greek activities like the climbing wall of death and learning to ride pegasi were good for that, he'd found. If it was physical, he didn't need to concentrate on it too much.

But he couldn't help her with her question. Ven's not entirely sure either, and at first he shrugs in confusion, but - well, something does kind of make sense to it. "I guess... it's just cultural, really. The Greeks always made a big deal out of heroes in the old days, being the first or the strongest or the quickest or whatever, so they're still thinking like that. I mean, the Spartan women used to tell their sons to return with their shield or on it. Us Romans had heroes, but there was always a lot more emphasis on working as a unit and integrating, making everything Roman as much as they could. When you hear about Rome in mortal history you hear about all the political stuff and the emperors and conquering other nations, not quests and everything like that. I guess they figure that if the demigod's good enough, they'll learn everything they can here, then they'll get out in the world and be a kind of modern-day hero. And those that don't, they weren't meant for it in the first place, probably."

"Building a hiding spot in the middle of the woods is 'fun?'" There was a little hint of a smile as she said it. Ven, you're weird. If she could understand the idea of working on things to just get your mind out of everything else going on in the world. And there was a lot going on.

"Yeah, sure, some have families at home when they get out of here. Someone to help them get through all the... mortal things. And some of them will use their gifts to make it, be the next music star, or get into a pro sports team. But... not everyone can just turn their gifts into a mortal place in the world." Callie's problem was that New Rome answered that, some left New Rome for the mortal world, but a fair number stayed. There was a whole life there, and there were no lost lonely children. The Greeks... if your family died in the process of your being found, what did you have? A world of monsters to kill you while you juggled a normal life?

Or... well, most Greek heroes did not get a happy ending to their story. That... she didn't want to dwell on.

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Closed Doors [Open in spite of Thread Name]

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