Pikachu and squirtle (cassie)

[alistair]

Alistair wasn’t much for doing things out of the normal. Alistair scrubbed himself absolutely clean. His skin was pink and raw from the sea sponge loofa he had been given a few days ago that was sent in that massive care package his uncle sent from Ireland. Alistair was grateful to the man and he felt as if he had more care from his uncle then his family. Other than Clare that was. Alistair loved his little sister more than anything else in the whole world. He would do anything for her any day. Alistair had to borrow the suit from someone in his cohort. After taking it into New Rome and getting it fitted, Alistair thought he was looking rather good. It was a black pair of pants and a black jacket with a sea green jacket and a black, white, and green striped tie. Alistair deftly tied the tie. After all those years of being in Catholic School, if there was one thing he could do, he could perfectly tie the tie. Tie the tie? The thought made Alistair laugh a little as he ran some gel through his hair to give it a nice spike. To be honest, Alistair was a little nervous. After that incident with Lilith, Alistair was even more confused about the two girls he cared about. On one hand, there was Cassie, the daughter of Jupiter. She was a great friend and had an amazing personality. Then there was Lilith, who was as sweet as could be. Luckily tonight, Alistair would be spending his time with Cassie.

Alistair had grabbed a bunch of white roses and he had them in a vase. Well at least the dozen roses were in separate vases. He was attempting to turn them different colors. A couple of them were purple, neon blue, a sea green and some orange roses. He also had purchased a Pikachu charm to go on the bracelet that was around the bundle of roses after he thoroughly dried out the stems. The bracelet itself was slender and silvery. It had a lightning bolt (honestly Alistair thought it looked a bit like harry potter) and a small fish. That one was of Alistair’s choosing. He at least wanted her to remember him. He looked at his watch before grabbing the flowers. He swallowed hard. Alistair was nervous. HE tried calm his racing heart beat as he headed out of the barracks door, a few other guys just pushing and shoving around, discussing their dates with other guys. Alistair shook his head and kept his comments to himself. If he ever got the chance, he would probably thank cupid for his matching up Alistair with Cassie. He needed some advice and if there was someone to give it to him, it would be Cupid.

Alistair plopped down on a bench outside, waiting for Cassie to show up. With each passing minute, his heart beat started to pound faster and faster. Alistair closed his eyes as he tried to calm his fast beating heart. After all he did arrive here at the appointed place a tad bit early, well if a half hour was a tad bit early, Alistair would eat his aquaman shorts. He almost wished that he hadn’t shown up at all, he was so nervous. All of the what if’s were running through his mind. The biggest worry was what if Cassie didn’t show up to the little shindig of Cupids? Gods he would look like such a moron just sitting there all by himself. But Alistair didn’t think Cassie would do that to him. At least he prayed that she wouldn’t.

[cassandra]

This was so far out of Cassie’s comfort zone that she kept swearing under her breath, trembling with nerves as she fluttered around her barrack. What the hell was she thinking, volunteering for Mr. Lovey Pant’s little Valentine’s day shenanigans? Sure, everyone needed a little love, but Romans and cursed chicks were starcrossed anyway. Yet, on a whim she decided she’d let this fly and now she was regretting it with her entire being. In fact, she was regretting it so hard, she thought she might have been emitting a rumbling sound like thunder after the lightning curse flew erratically over her skin. Annoyed and self-conscious about the weird looks she was getting from the other campers who happened to have the misfortune of being there at the same time as her, she roughly yanked her silver chain from her little accessory pouch on her hip, which she had threaded a large blue crystal onto for the occasion, and quickly clasped it around her neck. There was a crackling noise as the electricity directed itself straight into the metal which was something that had never happened before, and her eyebrows flew up. Okay, Cassie. Be cool. Seriously, before you start an electrical fire. She took a deep breath and rubbed her temples.

Why did she have to be so worried about going on a date with Alistair of all people? He was the awkward son of Neptune, supposed to be her sworn enemy, and… Just someone she expected to ridicule her or give her weird looks like everyone else, especially since her father had apparently had it out for him. But yet… He was unexpectedly cute, and he treated her like she was actually kind of awesome. Like her curse wasn’t really a curse at all. And it was something that both frightened her and made her heart beat a little faster. He was an awesome friend, but for a moment she realized that she might’ve thought other things about him. Well, if he wasn’t a son of Neptune. Bah, who was she kidding anyway? Conventional was probably the last word anyone would use to describe her, so who cared who’s kid he was? With a huff, Cassie roused herself from her dangerous musing and worked on finishing up her preparations for what she hoped wasn’t going to be a disaster like most things were in her life. Wow, ‘cause that didn’t sound emo. She’d already scrubbed herself and used all manner of strange cosmetic concoctions, courtesy of a brave Venus girl in the cohort that kind of didn’t mind Cassie, so she slipped the silver silken cocktail dress over her head and adjusted it surreptitiously.

Once she had forced her hair into submission in a high, elegant bun, she dug around, looking for the gifts she’d gotten her date. She didn’t know if that was the etiquette for this sort of thing, but she’d rather have something than be rude or, heaven forbid, unrefined. She gathered up the box of sea salt dark chocolate she’d obtained, as well as the underwater anubias flower growing in a glass cylinder full of water, which she’d begged Clare to help her get in desperation for some kind of gift to give Alistair. Gods, it had been embarrassing and awkward… especially because she didn’t want to say that she actually… wanted to.

Blushing a little, she trudged out of her barracks to their designated meeting area with fifteen minutes to spare. She dreaded sitting and waiting alone for him, imagining her embarrassment that would inevitable come when he wouldn’t show, but… Just like that, she came upon him sitting on the bench, looking just as nervous as she did. And super smokin' her brain added involuntarily. She cleared her throat as she neared him. “Uh… I…” She fished for anything to say. “These are for you.” She awkwardly held her gifts out in front of herself with stiff arms, looking anywhere but at the boy. If she hadn’t been wearing her chain, she imagined that grass fires would have started beneath her feet right about now.

Tag: Squirtle
Word Count: 677
Notes: Awwwwwww!

[alistair]

Alistair’s mind wandered into the what-ifs again. He wasn’t sure what he was actually doing here but he had decided to go along with this lovey-dovey day. In all honesty, most of the time Valentine’s Day was spent like most other holidays, with Alistair alone sitting at the aqueduct all day long. Why he was possessed to do this, Alistair didn’t know. He was worried that he might have gotten paired with Lilith or Cassie. The latter being his now date. Cassie might have been his cousin, but Alistair felt that he knew what she was feeling. He didn’t know what it was like to be cursed, but he was neglected, treated by most others like he was some stray dog. Alistair shook his head; tonight he had been very lucky. Cassie was a friend and Alistair hoped that she could become something more than friends. Yeah it was a far cry, but Alistair could totally hope right? Maybe cupid was trying to toy with him; maybe Cupid was trying to mend some hurt bonds between their parents. That much could have been true, Alistair was worried that she was going to kill him and offer him as a sacrifice for her dad. She treated him like a Roman.

Alistair gave a small gasp. Then he bit his lip and watched the woman that stood in front of him. She was the most beautiful thing in the world right now. He lowered his eyes and then they snapped back up to her neckline and her eyes. She was wearing the chain again, but Alistair thought it was as much a part of her as the water was a part of him. “You….you look more radiant then Venus herself.” Alistair continued to bite his lip and looked away. Suddenly his flowers and bracelet looked like mere child’s toys in comparison to the wondrous beauty that was in his presence. “I….uhh…these are for you. I hope you like them.” Alistair presented the multicolored roses and then the bracelet that joined the bouquet together. He thanked Cupid, Jupiter and Neptune all in the same thought for allowing him this chance at a romantic evening. “umm… so would you like to have a dance first or would you like to get something to eat?” He hoped that Cassie has some idea of what she wanted to do. Alistair was completely at a loss of what to do in a situation like this.

She presented him with a flower, Alistair’s eyes went wide and he grinned. “That’s totally awesome!” He looked at the flower and couldn’t help but widely smile. “I will treasure this forever.” Alistair said. He licked his lips and gently offered her his hand. Suddenly a thought came over him and he battled with it for a good thirty seconds to a minute. He blinked and he watched her for a moment. He shook his head, feeling like a dog trying to rid his ears of water before he watched her with more care and tenderness. There was totally something here that he couldn’t explain. Every time he wanted to say something, his voice caught in his throat and his heart raced, pounding against the breastbone and his ribcage. It was like someone had just taken his brain and his heart and just shoved it into a burlap bag with a mongoose in a cage match for the ages. “I…uhh… can I ask you something?” There was another alarm going off in his head, warning him not to do what he wanted to do at the present time.

“Please, may I kiss your cheek?” Alistair mentally gave himself an arse kicking. He shouldn’t have asked and he certainly didn’t expect her to say yes. Cassie would have been in her rights to fry him then and there. To be honest, Alistair expected the daughter of Jupiter to do just that, strike him down with a bolt of lightning and reduce him to a pile of ashes. There would be a good deal of people who probably would cheer her for the actions, but at least Clare might miss him right? “I….I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.” Alistair’s face flushed with color and the heat rose under his collar. He tugged at the tie before he looked away from Cassie. He prayed that she wouldn’t kill him.

[cassandra]

Cousins… Hmm. The thought had crossed her mind before, but she realized by regular ol' human standards, everybody in this camp was pretty much a cousin by various degrees… Or aunt.. or uncle… And that it was only really weird to like a half-sibling. Family ties here were really strange indeed, and was a mechanic most people preferred to ignore. Cassie knew that anytime she thought about it, it made her head hurt. But anyway, how often was it that any kind of attractive guy paid her much attention? Well, she was a very pretty girl, but the moment people found out she was a living lightning rod, most feared for their lives and kept a healthy distance. Truth was, Cassie didn’t really blame them for doing it, but it didn’t mean it was easy for her to accept the fact that she got weird looks everywhere she went, and when she got too angry, she thundered LITERALLY for crying out loud. If that didn’t scream “freak”, she wasn’t sure what else about herself would.

Before Cassandra had come to camp Jupiter in search of refuge and she stayed under the care of her big brother, who was the only person who really made an effort to make sure she felt cared for at all. If someone were to ask her who the most precious person to her in the world was, she would have said Ben, because he was the one who made sure she didn’t become some psychotic freak. But somehow, since she’d come to camp, she’d never been able to find sanctuary with someone who made her feel less different, for lack of a better descriptor. That was until she met Alistair. The boy who was sitting on the bench waiting for her, against all expectations. When she submitted her name into the Valentine’s lottery, so to speak, she would never admit to anyone that she’d been hoping for someone specific, but a warmth in her chest told her that the fact he was here was something she’d really hoped for. Maybe she just wanted to be his friend and be close, like she and Ben once were, because he never treated her any differently from the other Romans… Okay. Besides maybe a little bit of flirtation, but hey. Then again, she had been afraid that the rumors about he and Lilith were true… But why should she be? Wasn’t like she needed him to be anything more than a friend to her. But what she couldn’t yet admit to herself was… What she needed and what she wanted were sometimes… a little different.

As much as she tried to force herself not to look him in the eyes, Damn it, why couldn’t she look him in the eyes? she couldn’t help but look at him with embarrassment when her ears picked up the gasp that escaped from him. Her electric blue eyes snapped to his face, trying to discern if he was just surprised that she could look the way she did, or if it meant something else. She blushed all the way to the roots of her hair when he told her how beautiful she looked, and she felt like an idiot when her mouth was hanging open at his gifts and the lavish attention. This was way more than she expected to get for Valentines day. She laid the flower and the salted chocolate on the bench next to him when it didn’t appear that he was going to take it from her, so that she could receive his gifts. The roses were technicolored and incredibly beautiful, and the bracelet around it… Oh, her heart stuttered for a moment at the gesture. She took them in her hands and cradled them. “Wow…. Thank you. Thank you so much…!” She fiddled with the lightning and the fish charm, unable to stop a chuckle at the Pikachu charm that hung next to them. It was possibly the cutest pair of things she’d ever received. She managed to make herself look at him and clear her throat as he asked her what she wanted to do. Be cool, Cassandra Underwood. Be cool. “I… I could totally go for some food right now… I’m sort of starving.”

Confusion struck as she noticed that the hot guy in front of her seemed to be fumbling for something in his brain, and fear struck her fast as she immediately jumped to the worst. What if… What if he was disappointed? He’d just called her beautiful, but he could have just been being polite… When he asked if he could ask her a question, a guarded expression crossed her face. “W-what?” But what he said next was so unexpected, she thought her jaw might detatch. A guy wanted physical contact with her? Gods. Did he not know who she was? Sure she was wearing the chain, but… And she realized that maybe she should have been angry at how forward he’d been, but the offer of physical contact with anyone at all made her confused, frozen with disbelief. Numbly, without even thinking, all she could do was nod. She didn’t even hear what he was saying to her afterwards.

[alistair]

Alistair was a bit happy that she really seemed to like the Charm bracelet. He hadn’t known in particular what to get her for a gift. There were flowers and chocolates, promises that people didn’t really intend to keep. Alistair wasn’t a believer really in those sorts of things. Well he knew that girls like them but they also loved guys who thought outside the box from time to time. Sure the flowers were a bit traditional, but the colors were what Alistair hoped she liked. He had spent a good deal in the Forum with a Venus kid in his Cohort, trying to get an idea of what sort of gift to get the daughter of Jupiter. She truly had been hard to peg because he just absolutely couldn’t figure out what to get her and he didn’t want her to not like what he got. Alistair toyed with the decision for days before making a final decision to get her the bracelet. He got her the little fish charm so she could remember him by, the lightning bolt for her and the Pikachu because that was the nickname was what he had bestowed on her. He was squirtle and she was Pikachu. Such a fitting pair of nicknames.

“I’m really glad you like them, I was worried that you wouldn’t.” Alistair admitted in a small and shy voice. For the most part he tried to play cool and confidant, but when he was around Cassie, it was like all the rules went out the window, but he tried his hardest to swallow and re-focus himself. Alistair placed a hand over his stomach, it was growling like a rather hungry bear. He had totally skipped lunch earlier this day; he was too busy having a mental freak-out while he was working in the infirmary. A few of the other guys told him that he was worrying about nothing. Alistair couldn’t disagree more. For all intents and purposes, Cassie should have been his sworn enemy. She should have tried her hardest to turn his pathetic Neptune rear into a smoking pile of ash. She totally didn’t and treated him like a real Roman instead of like some unwanted piece of gutter trash. Cassie was nice to him and seemed to enjoy hanging out with him. So of course he didn’t want to be moody Alistair. Most of the time that only ever happened when he was alone and had time to think and reflect on the things that were not the right sort of things in his life. But now was a time he didn’t have to worry about idiots in the infirmary or what that idiot augur was going to say next to him. “Great, you should see what they did to the Mess Hall. It’s rather wonderful.” He said. A few people had given him a bit of a taste of what they had done to the mess hall and he was really excited to see what they had done.

Alistair didn’t wait for Cassie to give him a reply before he leaned in and kissed her, catching him and more assuredly her, by surprise. There seemed to be a spark, not like she was trying to shock him, at least he hoped not, but it was something that he felt down in the heart. He had kissed Lilith, but he didn’t feel the so called Zing that people talked about when you really had a connection with someone. This was probably it. Everyone said you would know when it happened. Alistair could only hope that she felt the same way about him.

[cassandra]

The delight Cassie took in seeing that Alistair had liked the flower she’d brought to him was surprising to her, but not as surprising as how much her appearance had affected him or the fact that she was noticing that it had affected him. She wasn’t sure she’d ever affected a guy like that before, unless scaring them to death counted, which happened more often than she liked to think about. He knew about her though, and yet he still had… Asked to kiss her cheek. Her hands tightened into fists at her side as she thought about that, the implications. It was hard for her to really think anyone would know her affliction and still want something from her so as much as she hated it, she couldn’t help but wonder if there was something else to it, but she begged all the gods in the sky that she might be lucky enough to really have found someone who accepted her. Guess she’d find out sooner or later, and all she could really know was that he was here and they were on a date.

She smiled a little shyly at the vulnerability in voice and dared to look at him again, seeing his hand resting on his stomach. So she’d made a good choice in picking dinner first. She wasn’t even sure she wanted him to see her dance because while she could be graceful, her nerves forecasted awkwardness in her future for tonight. Not that now wasn’t awkward, because it definitely was. But it was nice. “I think that sounds fun. Can’t wait. I’m totally s-starving.” she said stiltedly, trying to get her mouth to work correctly. Why should she get so bothered by him? Of course by all rights they should have been natural enemies, but maybe in their case, opposites really did attract. Or Cupid did something to their drinks one night, but even if he did, he would get nothing but thanks from her. Nonverbally and entirely secretly of course. If anyone asked, she’d likely be in denial about how much she really wanted this to happen. It was just the way she dealt with things. In her experience, the less people knew about, the less they had to use as fodder later when they wanted to taunt her because of the Roman failure that she was. She wasn’t a born leader, she was moody, and she was cursed. But still, here was a moment where she really thought things could change for her, at least with one person. Really, it scared her how much she wanted this to at least end with them being closer than they were.

But ah, there were his lips, suddenly against her cheek. Her eyes went as big as saucers as she felt a combination of heat from his breath and a fillip of electricity between them that was a different sensation entirely than the sort she got when the current over her skin flared. The blood rose to her cheeks in a rush, but even when he moved away from her, she was frozen, except for the hand that went to her cheek, touching the spot where his lips has scorched. “What…Just happened…?”

[alistair]

There was much that Alistair wasn't sure of. He wasn't sure that he was behaving properly, he wasn't sure that he was doing things right, and he was pretty sure he wasn't doing this date thing right. He secretly was thanking cupid from the bottom of his heart. Alistair wouldn't say anything verbally, but right now Alistair was plotting on dropping off an offering as thanks to the god of lust and affection, the biggest thing that Alistair could find. He thought about the curse that she had. Alistair didn't care if Cassie was cursed by Juno, Alistair had it out for that stupid woman. Just the thought that the overly obnoxious cow of a goddess cursing Cassie made his blood boil. Alistair would find a way to make this work for him. He noticed her hand clench up, maybe his question was something stupid, he shouldn't have asked. But he did and Alistair knew that it was a bad idea and it probably doomed him to all eternity of saying stupid things or asking the most dumb ass questions. Alistair felt the breath catch up in his throat and he swallowed hard, trying to clear his mind. The storm clouds that were raging around in his mind right now were because of this daughter of the storm and lightening. He inwardly sighed as he gave Cassie a shy smile, trying to keep his nerves from getting completely fried at this particular moment.


Alistair offered the crook of his arm to Cassie, he smiled. It was a genuine smile. Alistair felt it down from the tip of his toes, he really cared about her. "Let's be on our way then." Alistair mumbled, he licked his lips, trying to keep them from drying out and cracking. He tried to lead Cassie to the Mess Hall, wanting to show her how cool the place looked. He held the door open for her before finding them a table and pulling a chair out for her to sit down. He waited for her to take a seat before sitting down himself. Alistair remembered the times that he had to learn proper manners from one of the week long school seminars on things like manners, how to properly behave, things like that the school did from time to time. Alistair however wasn't sure if he was going to dance. He wasn't so good at that sort of thing, dancing. Well Alistair could do some traditional Irish dancing, he learned how to do that in primary school. Other sorts of dancing was a bit out of the question, Alistair wasn't that graceful.


"I hope you didn't mind the kiss.... It was nice. I really liked kissing you." Alistair blushed as he watched Cassie intently. She blushed at him and Alistair's ears were already tinged pink, almost the same color as the obnoxious looking table cloths that covered the little two seat tables. They really had gone all out trying to make this look nice. Alistair wanted to make this moment perfect for Cassie. Alistair watched her again before concentrating on the table where he was sitting. He picked at the hole in the red lace that adorned the tablecloth. He was being stupid, why would she even look at a guy like him? He was bad luck and a horrible roman.