no matter how many times a snake shed its skin, it would always be a snake. no matter how hard kit dempsey tried to prove he was no longer a traitor, camp half-blood would always view him as the boy who betrayed them for kronos. but not leo valdez...
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CHAPTER TWO: TALK FAST
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KIT DEMPSEY WASN'T KNOWN for his patience. In the past five minutes he'd been stuck with Leo Valdez, he'd already developed an opinion of the boy in his head; sarcastic, far too excitable, and worst of all, annoying. He wanted to know everything there was to know about Camp Half-Blood, and about Kit too. Where did he get the scar that curved around his right eyebrow like a crescent moon? When did he arrive at Camp? Who was his Godly parent, another character in Star Trek? Kit's silence didn't seem to deter him, nor did his glare that stared daggers or his icy tone when he absolutely had to speak to him. It didn't make sense. Everyone knew to leave Kit Dempsey alone, what was wrong with this boy?
"What's that?" Leo pointed towards the Sword Arena curiously. So far, Kit had shown him where the cabins were, the dining pavilion, and the strawberry fields, and they were now walking down the uneven path that lead to the Sword Arena and Amphitheatre.
Kit let out a sigh before boredly telling him, "The Sword Arena. Where we train."
"Train?" Leo's hazel eyes lit up at the mention of the word. "Like with swords and stuff?"
"And stuff," he repeated with a scoff. "You mean daggers, bows and arrows, spears--"
"Yeah, that," Leo cut him off dismissively. He was several steps ahead of Kit, having to stop every couple of seconds with a pout in order to let the brooding boy catch up. Kit paid his pointed stares no notice, taking over the directions as they passed the Arena to approach the Weaponry. "So do I get one of my own? A sword, I mean?"
Kit looked him over with a hint of judgement in his eyes. Leo didn't look like the type that would be good with a sword, what with his lanky frame and all, but perhaps he'd surprise them and be the next Achilles or Hercules. Kit almost laughed at the thought, the only sign of his amusement being a small twitch of his lips that Leo just blinked at. When realising he was serious, he sighed to himself.
"Yes, but you'll probably end up making your own since you're in Cabin Nine. Hades knows that cabin likes their technology."
"Cabin Nine," Leo echoed with a frown. "What's up with that anyway? And Vulcan? You never answered me earlier."
Because I didn't want to, Kit thought with a huff before replying, "The Greek name is actually Hephaestus. I'm not sure what your friend was thinking with the Roman name. Usually demigods don't even know much about the Romans when they arrive."
But Leo had tuned him out the second he mentioned Hephaestus. "Festus? Sounds like the god of cowboys."
"No, He-phaestus," Kit corrected him, scowling. "God of blacksmiths and fire. Christ, do you ever listen?"
"Yes," Leo retorted, his tone changing from one of amusement to defensiveness as he narrowly dodged a low-hanging tree branch lying in their path. "So the flaming hammer over my head, was that a good thing or bad thing? Because people were panicking and--"
