Spilled Fruit Loops

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   [Edited July 20, 2022]

The next morning, the team found their resident archer and the visiting oddball locked in mortal combat on the hologram platform. It was interesting for Nico to fight against someone who was using a long-range weapon. It definitely required one to be light on their feet and it tested his reflexes in ways that he wasn't used to. While having your opponent further away did give you more time to come up with a counter, the projectiles could be fired in rapid succession and traveled faster than a blade would be swung. It was certainly an adjustment and he was having difficulty getting in close enough to attack.

The earliest risers had heard the sounds of explosions and shouting and came to the gym to investigate. Whatever they had been expecting, it wasn't Ghost and Artemis trying to kill each other. Connor ran through the room and shoved Ghost away from Artemis, getting hit in the back by an exploding arrow in the process that left sizzling holes in his shirt. Ghost wasn't sure if the hero had meant to or not, but Connor had shoved him with enough force that the consultant ended up tumbling all the way to the wall.

"Stupid barrier," he muttered under his breath as he pushed himself to his feet. He brushed himself off and moved to collect his sword that he had dropped near the edge of the platform. He glanced around to see who else had been drawn to the noise. Some of the other early risers included: Miss Martian, Nightwing, Red Robin, Kaldur'ahm, and a couple of others who he couldn't remember.

"Relax, Connor. We were just sparring. We don't hate each other anymore." Artemis stretched languidly. Ghost rubbed the shoulder that had had a brief run-in with the wall. It was a very solid wall, though he wouldn't expect anything less from Bruce.

"Seriously. You didn't have to hit me so hard." Nico agreed.

"You were fighting." Connor pointed out, still not convinced that everything was ok.

"Yeah," Artemis agreed, "thanks for the concern, but I'm fine. I can beat him up anyway." She smirked at her opponent. Nico stuck his tongue out at her, which made her laugh. She had a nice laugh. It was certainly better than her snarl.

++Megan++

From the short time we had been around this 'Ghost', I never would have thought that he could be playful. To me, he had seemed very stuck-up and deadly serious all the time. It had been very disconcerting for a boy his age, granted that I did not know his actual age. He seemed to be around 13 or 14, at most? His features suggested youth, though I am not so great at judging things based on human biology. Martians didn't age the same and we could always morph our bodies into any desired form.

I never would have thought that he would stick his tongue out like that, a gesture often connected with impudence. It was a childish gesture that did not seem to fit his earlier character. Then I was further confused by the fact that such playfulness was directed at Artemis-- a person he had engaged in an argument with the previous day. What had occurred that made them suddenly friendly again? The intricacies of human behaviors were hard to understand, but I found that I didn't have to follow them all to be accepted by the group. They preferred me as I was.

++Nico++

The son of Hades was feeling pretty good after the sparring match with Artemis, and getting everything smoothed over with the team. Even Nightwing seemed to be more at ease again, which was good. Nico wasn't sure that he could have handled much more of the tension. He had begun to worry about whether or not things would go back to normal once they got back home but now he wouldn't have to worry about it.

Though Artemis, Nightwing, and Red Robin had all forgiven him, the rest of the team wasn't so quick to forgive. They still didn't seem to know what to make of the demigod and were giving him strange looks or avoiding looking at him all together. Even Kaldur was giving the son of Hades a wide berth, which Nico found disquieting. It was hard to stomach all of the tension, but Nico hoped that they would come around now that Artemis had.

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