WORLDS BEYOND ( pjo )

𝐯: i'll always look out for you

It had been decided the night before that it'd be best to get Kia's social skills up and running again and to ensure that—

"Hey, you don't have anything steal-worthy, by any chance, do you?"

Ah, here she was, standing in front of the infamous Hermes Cabin. The boy standing in front of her had tousled brown hair and a conventionally attractive smile, if not for the impish impression it left. His eyes glinted with mischievousness like he would rummage through her things anyway, pickpocket her regardless of her answer. Kia's grip on her backpack straps tightened.

She smiled friendlily. "Nothing that you would be able to, anyway."

The boy looked taken aback for the moment, as if he wasn't used to getting people to humour his banter. A grin broke out on his face and he clapped her on the shoulder.

"I like you," he said. He opened the door further, giving her passage to enter. "Come on in! I'm Travis Stoll, head counsellor along with Connor, my brother, he's probably out wreaking havoc somewhere. What's your name?"

Right, she totally ignored the casual mention of havoc wreaking.

"Kia Mitsuho."

The cabin was... chaotic, to say the least. Kids, aged seven to nineteen, were running around like rampant wild animals and mini coloured smoke bombs lit up every other corner of the place. It looked like the type of place that took in just about everyone, but that's what made it feel warm and light, Kia supposed.

Travis spun around, walking backwards while expertly stepping over all the laid out sleeping bags and belongings sprawled our messily over the floor. "Regular or Undetermined?"

Kia was glad Chiron had prepared her for this, or else she'd have no idea what to say. "Neither. Daughter of Morpheus."

Travis raised an eyebrow interestedly and hummed. "Morpheus, huh? I don't think we're stocked up on any half-siblings for you, but that's pretty cool."

"You think so?"

"Morpheus is pretty awesome," Travis said thoughtfully. "If you inherit any of his powers, you could probably manipulate reality itself. Wouldn't count on it, though. Children of minor gods rarely ever inherit that many of their godly parent's powers."

Kia thought about taking offence, seeing where it would lead her, seeing as how he seemed to be the type who would easily apologise for something like this (pranks were a different matter altogether), the possibility amusing her slightly. She decided not to, though, wanting to ask more questions about staying here.

"You'll be sleeping here," he said, before she got the chance to ask. She must've looked surprised, since he laughed light-heartedly and waved it off. "I could tell you were curious."

His tone turned sincere. "You can ask whenever there's anything you need. Just keep your stuff close. But not too close," he winked.

Travis seemed to put on this personality of mischievous and uncaring of repercussions, but he truly did care about all of his cabin-mates, related by blood or not. Kia could respect that.

"Thank you," she said sincerely.

With one more impish grin, he bounded off, probably going off to help Connor with whatever chaos-ensuing joke he was playing.

Kia realised she hadn't even seen where she was sleeping, looking down at her feet to see a green sleeping bag. It had a small note resting neatly on top of it, which shocked Kia seeing as how this seemed to be the type of place where everything got misplaced.

Picking it up gently and unfolding it, her eyes scanned the paper.

'Welcome home

— Connor Stoll