I kept my eyes on my hands as I picked my own cabin door.
"Why does this happen every time?" I muttered, shifting my weight a tad. My legs were becoming numb. Giving a final yank on the picks, the door clicked open and decided to allow me through.
Sighing loudly, I pushed my way through the doorway and further into the room. The whole cabin was eerily quiet and gave the urge to start creeping around like a thief. Well, technically I am one but we don't talk about that.
"Jay Kirix, how nice of you to finally go out of your way to visit me" A gravelly voice said from over in the corner of the cabin. My dear old friend, Blight Hunter, wasn't anywhere near the term kindred soul. He was more like an irritated old bear that was frustrated because it couldn't find its dinner when it wanted it.
"Yeah, a Hermes kid only coming to his own cabin to feed another Hermes kid, makes total since" I said sarcastically, placing my bag down and shucking off my jacket. For some weird reason the gods wanted Camp to be as cold as they are toward their kids. It seemed quite unfair, but who am I to complain? I'm just a pathetic half-blood with no brain-cells and no dreams other than to do the gods bidding.
"So you brought food?" Blight inquired, having already guessed what was in the bag. I grinned, this guy always had a way to brighten my mood.
"Yeah, I brought the darn food, you old coot. I don't plan to be the one who starves you to death" I growled back good naturedly. I flipped a lamp on, the light filling the room with its warm glow.
"Here ya go, old man" I said, striding closer to his chair in the corner and holding up the bag. Blight leaned over and snatched at the bag. With quick, nimble fingers, he opened the bag and reached inside and yanked out a chicken leg.
"Ahh, chicken. You are worth something after all, Kirix" He mumbled over a bite of chicken.
"Oh sure, I'm worth a chicken leg. Way to bring a guy's ego up, man" I hissed, taking a seat on the floor. Through the banter, I both felt the bond we had forged over the years twitch with happiness. My friendship with this old coot was one I had actually managed to hang on too. It was a relief sometimes to know I actually had enough value to actually be able to keep friendships alive.
"Anything new going on out there?" Blight asked after a few seconds of companionable silence. I racked my brain for some bit of news I could share. Then my new relationship with Ash popped into my head like a lightbulb. Why hadn't I thought of that before?
"Well... I have a girlfriend now" I said, looking down at my hands as they unravel and ravel the rug I was sitting on.
Blight nearly choked on his latest bite of chicken.
"You? A flipping girlfriend? Who'd have thought" he managed, finally, after a few seconds of gulping air back into his lungs.
I scowled, it's not that surprising.
"It's not that surprising..." I muttered, shifting on my rug.
Blight wasn't about to let it go.
"So, the Jay Kirix has finally been tied down huh?" He said, grinning that evil grin of his. He obviously could see my abnormally red face in the lamp light.
"Yeah..." I muttered, scowling at him.
" Next stop, Marriage!" He sang, clapping his hands together. The chicken shaking in the bag sat roughly in his lap.
"I'm leaving" I growled, getting up and stomping to the door. This side of Blight I forgot about; he was always teasing me no matter what.
"Just remember, I'm your best man!" He cackled, just as I was slamming the door.
I stood there in front of the door for a second. I felt the large grin on my face but had no idea why it was there.
But I got that answer a second later.
For once in my life, I actually felt like I had a father figure who was there for me. A father figure who would even tease me when the moment called for it. Though I had Hermes as my godly father, he wasn't always here for me to talk to. He wasn't here to tease me. He actually only ever visited me to give me a quest or an announcement for all the Hermes kids. I had always felt like I was missing out on a whole world where dad's were concerned. But now... I actually had a taste of that world with Blight. Blight was helping me see what I was missing, being a song of a god.
And I yearned for more. A lot more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I quickly made my way to the pavilion. Everyone was there having a celebration for the winners of Capture the Flag. I, apparently, was supposed to be the one who handed over the laurels, but I was late.
"There you are. Were you trying to get out of the handover?" Percy inquired, sidling up to me when he reached me a few minutes later. He wore a Camp shirt and blue-jeans. His bead necklace glinted in the brazer light.
"You caught me," I said, slipping my hand discreetly into the Son of Posiedon's pocket.
"Well now that you're here, we can start!" He grinned, catching my hand before it could slink back out with the drachma's.
"Of course, shouldn't we get up there then?" I asked, grinning back and pulling away.
Carefully slinking past Percy, I made my way to the head table. Percy followed along behind me, slapping high fives with fellow camp mates.
Chiron, seeing us coming, got to his hooves and cleared his throat for silence. Everyone immediately stopped talking and eating and looked up at him in expectation.
"Good evening everyone! And good game!" He began, lifting his arms up in congratulations. "It is time for the passing of laurels!"
Everyone began stomping their cups on the stone tables and giving shouts of excitement. I spotted Ash making her way to her table and gave her a wave. In response, she gave me a nod and threw a bit of lobster claw at me.
Chiron waved his hands for silence.
Everyone managed to oblige, just barely.
I could understand their unrest, ADHD was a pain in the butt.
Finally managing to quiet the rowdy demigods, Chiron went over and picked up the golden laurels and brought them ceremoniously to me. I barely managed to keep my snort inside me, but it did it. Somehow.
Without much ceremony, I tossed the laurels at Percy and gave him a raspberry. I wasn't too mad at losing, but I did feel sorta sour because my team couldn't even manage to follow the darn plan while I– Finished up some stuff.
With the whole pavilion giving me boo's and raspberry's of their own, I sashayed out of the pavilion with my head held high.
Word count: 1192
