Here Comes The Sun (MADDI)

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BANG.

“OW!”

Clare turned and glared hard at the wall corner that had just, in her humble opinion, jumped out and bit her elbow. That would set it right. Rubbing her elbow as she walked, she set back along on her walk to the baths, only really just realizing that being so loud about her run-in with the side of a building probably wasn’t greatly timed.

It wasn’t traumatically early if she woke anyone up, just give the sun about another forty five minutes to reach and clear the horizon. Then again, she was already pretty far from the nearest cohort barracks that waking someone up probably wasn’t an issue. Well, she thought at least. A movement in the corner of her eye made her look over to find one of the Camp’s Lares making his way drearily out of an alley, giving her a nasty look as he shook his role of toilet paper at her, the other hand holding on to a newspaper. She gave him an apologetic look and walked a little faster. Though that got her wondering, not for the first time, if the Lares really counted on waking people up because she wasn’t entirely certain a spirit had to sleep at all. On that note, did they even have to go to the bathroom? They didn’t need to eat.

She let herself ponder these gravely important questions as she walked into the bathhouse. As expected, no one else was here. And that was fine by her. She walked over to the edge of the pool, kicked her bright blue, fish patterned flip-flops off to the side, and jumped in. For most people, the fact that they had just submerged themselves very quickly in a pool that the sunlight had yet to even attempt to warm a little, would itself be called a very affective wake-up call. But for Clare, it was more a matter of the very invigorating sense of strength that rushed through her. Not quite as well as the few times she’d dragged one of her brothers or friends to the excellent beaches of the nearby San Francisco. The smell and feel of the wide open ocean. Now that was what it was all about. What what exactly was about, she still wasn’t fully sure, but she was pretty confident it revolved around that. Come to think of it, she was overdue for cajoling the praetors into letting her have an afternoon off for a little fun at the beach.

But that was for another day. Or possibly later today. Either or, it wasn’t for right now. She let herself sink to the bottom of the six-foot part of the pool and took the little backpack off her back. As long as she kept decent hold on it, it wouldn’t get wet. Not that she minded things wet, but this was sort of her little art project, so she preferred to keep it dry. She pulled out her strings and leather cords and looked around her. The moment she let these go, they would get drenched. And probably attempt a floaty escape. Hmm, she hadn’t really thought that one out. And there wasn’t the lovely preservation method of using bubbles here. She sighed and shoved the thread and cord back into her fish bag.

With an easy push off the bottom, she broke the surface and swam over the edge of the pool. Now this she could work with. She dropped her bag back on the dry ground and pulled out the thread and cord again, along with a plastic sandwich back of seashells and fossilized coral, laying each item out so she could clearly see what she had to work with. Meanwhile, the majority of her body was still in the water, so it was pretty close to the best of both worlds.

With meticulous attention, she started sorting the shells and fossils and laying out what, at least in her head, would be a beautiful necklace. Though note to self, next time bring beads.

WORD COUNT: 673
TAG: Maddi!
NOTES: look at this amazing bag. Just behold its greatness. That is all. (this is the bag Clare is carrying, that’s the other reason I’m making you look at it)

[maddison]

A descendant of Venus only ever belonged in one place according to the rest of Camp Jupiter: the baths. Something that wasn't necessarily true for Maddison Petroski. However, that didn't mean Maddison wasn't still an avid fan of the baths. After all, there was a spa. Not that she wasn't perfectly capable of throwing her own little spa day in her cohort, but she was less likely to be judged for breaking out her her body scrubs and her facial masks in the actual spa than in the middle of her cohort. After all, the members of her cohort already hated her enough as it stood. She was plenty fine with riling up her fellow campers, but when it was spa time-it was a time meant to be enjoyed. And it was decidedly less enjoyable when she had to put up with taunting remarks from interrupting, unwanted visitors. She could handle them-that was for certain-but she didn't always want to. Especially not when she had a cucumber peel-off mask and a lip scrub both settled on her face.

It was also most beneficial to hit the spa when no one else even considered being present. Not that many of the Romans ever typically bothered with the spa, but still, there was the unfortunate chance of running into at least four or five stray Romans. So despite the fact that it was much earlier than she preferred to get up, Maddison had risen at the ungodly hour of four a.m. just to have a few mere hours to herself for once. It was surprisingly exhausting being the Camp Bitch, so she needed a little R&R time (without having to make some little punk cry to get it).

She'd packed up a little shower caddy full of goodies and had looked surprisingly cheerful as she strutted into the baths. She had spent a good hour and a half in there before she reemerged, her skin glowing and her hair falling in perfect tresses (though wasn't it always?). There was even a delighted little smile dancing across her lips-something which was highly unnatural for the legacy. Though no one was present to see her moment of contentment, so that could have been why she allowed herself to revel in it. Her little hummed rendition of some ancient Shania Twain song even echoed quietly through the spa as she ventured out of the doors-the cool breeze of early morning sending a chill through her bones. The skies were still dark, something which she hadn't expected, and there was no desire for her to return to her cohort. Breakfast still wouldn't be served, not at least until the sun had risen. Her mind flitted briefly through her options, eventually settling on a nice poolside reading session with her copy of Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult.

Unfortunately for her, the slapping of her flip flops against the tiled floor was not the only sound she could make out as she entered the pools. No, there was the distinct sound of splashing from the pool. Wrinkling her nose, and instantly discarding her fleeting smile, Maddison prepped herself for, ugh, contact with another person. Contact with a Neptune kid, even worse. "Don't you have something better to be wasting your existence on, goldfish?" She flipped her hair over her shoulder dramatically as she strutted over to the point where the light from the bathing house cast her towering shadow over the other blonde girl.

Her lips parted, prepared to throw forth a perfectly aimed insult, but they instead spoke words which she hadn't even expected of herself. "What is that?

[/b]" She inquired as she gestured to the mess of shells and the intricate bag laid before the other girl. Sure, not an uncommon question, but it was coming from Maddison. It implied that she actually cared about the answer-something which she was sure in the back of her mind was far from the truth. Not to mention her question wasn't even laced with its usually malice. I must be getting sick..



tag ;; clare!
word count ;; 665 (...i edited it..and then didn't feel like recounting so i just guessed o.o)

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Maddison Petroski. It wasn’t that she was particularly biased against anyone, no matter what their reputations. But Maddi was one she had never tried to talk to before. She wasn’t exactly known for being nice to people and, well, Clare was sort of not that good at dealing with meaner people. So she swallowed a little at the sight of the older Venus legacy and mentally crossed her fingers this wouldn’t end badly. Maddi’s greeting was nothing unexpected. Nor was the little caddy thing of stuff she wasn’t quite sure what it was, but given it was in Maddison’s hands it was probably something that was way over her head. And a book as well, which she hadn’t the faintest idea what that could possibly be about. What did Venus girls read about anyway? She wasn’t entirely sure if she wanted to know or not. Probably a romantic novel maybe.

Pushing her random thoughts aside, she went back to addressing the matter at hand. There was someone else here, who had addressed her. And she wouldn’t be doing herself justice if she acted rude. It just wasn’t… her. So she did her best to give an at least halfway friendly smile. “Hello, Maddi. Nice to see you.” It wasn’t meant as spite or anything, she just wasn’t really one to be deliberately mean to anyone. The worst she’d done to anyone was give some guy a nosebleed for insulting her mom, then promptly leaving the scene to sit by on her own at Temple Hill. Okay, so hitting the guy in the face wasn’t exactly sweet and innocent, but she was pretty sure that what Zidane had done after hearing about it would have been ten times worse at least. And what the guy would go through if Xander or Damien learned would be a whole separate level of unpleasant. So really, she didn’t feel so guilty about punching him.

She was perfectly aware of Maddi’s attempts at being intimidating. The shadow edging over her certainly was intimidating and Clare was honestly considering the very inviting prospect of sinking back into the water. After all, she was confident she had the ability to stay underwater longer than Maddi had the patience or desire to bother her.

But then there was a question, and not one that seemed all that rude or anything like she had been almost expecting. It was a true, curious question. She looked up from her shells to the other girl, feeling a little foolish for being caught at this by someone like Maddi. But the lack of taunting was hopeful at least. “It’s going to be a shell necklace. Once I lay out a design and string it. …You can have one if you like. I have plenty of shells and know where to get more.” Well, no harm in asking.

WORD COUNT: 475
TAG: Maddi!