Sanity Is Overrated [Nate!!]

[Deleted]

SWIM TIME!!!! Today have been far too full of useful things like training and survival lessons and stuff that, as important as it was, was boring. Or rather, not as fun as swimming. She might be a little biased though. Ah well.

Clare paid little attention to trivial things like anything but her and the water as she ran all the way from the Field of Mars, ignored Terminus’ telling her off for her hurry as she passed, and took a flying leap into the water. She had a mission. Well, that and need to be in water again. But she’d heard from a nyad the other day that shells and things held a nice supply of water in them and in a brief flash of unusual brilliance, she decided to see if she could find some for emergency usage. Hence why she had a crumbled up plastic bag in her pocket. That and the bag still had a bite’s worth of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and after having a long discussion with the fish about great Disney movies a while back, one fish was convinced that he, like Pudge the Fish, needed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Despite the fact that he had no idea what it was.

So her first stop under the water was to find the fish she had dubbed Pudge and give him the rest of her sandwich. Turns out he really did rather like peanut butter and jelly. Who knew? After wiping the jelly out of the bag, which was staying dry due to her holding it, and finishing it off, she set to search the bottom of the lake. She found the biggest load of shells and fossils easily and within ten minutes, her baggie was full. Smiling in her triumph, she went back to the surface, still as dry as she had been when she left the Field of Mars.

That was when she noticed she wasn’t alone. Perhaps she hadn’t been when she first got there, but she hadn’t really paid attention then. She zeroed in on the famously eccentric augur, Nate, whom, though she’d always rather wanted to, the whole her-brother-being-blamed-for-the-doom-in-the-latest-augury thing had sort of made it seem a bit weird to talk to him. But she decided on the spot that that wasn’t his fault in the slightest. So she swam over to where he was and, without any sort of prelude, launched straight into whatever came to mind. “Hey Nate! Oh, I thought of this really cool idea the other day that I could use your help on, that involves silly string on a massive scale, but I sort of forgot about it when I had another brilliant idea.” She held the back of shells up proudly. “Shell necklace! Fashionable and useful! Great, right? That, and a fish wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Long story. So! How are you doing?” Sure, going all, well, herself on someone when she was just meeting them the first time probably wasn’t a good idea, but she’d seen Nate acting crazy plenty of times and was fairly certain he’d understand.

WORD COUNT: 523
SONG: whole bunch of them, but I’m going to have to single out Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride

[nate]

It was unusual for anyone on a weekday to be doing anything aside from training. However, Nathan had special priveleges, or so he had convinced himself and nearly anybody else. He was approximately ninety percent sure though, that Remus and Lia weren't buying it. Though Lia probably let him get away with it because she was amused by him. As for Remus, he probably just found it pointless to boss Nate around considering Nate wasn't likely to listen anyhow. Not to mention, Remus, no doubt, found it irritating to converse with Nate even when he was forced to, so when talking to the augur was optional-he wouldn't dare. Something which delighted the Camp augur to no end. It was no secret that Remus wasn't the most well-liked man around Jupiter. In fact, aside from perhaps Maddison Petroski, he was quite possibly the most hated camper. The both of them had their pink panties in a twist (though Nate was more prone to understanding Maddison's nasty attitude, rather than Remus').

There was also the small detail that he was the augur and no one expected him to do much of anything..unless of course he was out predicting someone's death or some tragic occurence. Neither of which things made him very popular himself. While Nate was amicable and friendly enough to be likeable, his title didn't make him many friends. While he knew the predictions and deaths weren't necessarily his fault-though he did sometimes admit to blaming himself-many of the campers found it fit to blame him either way. Something which he could understand, it may have been irrational, but they weren't being rational-they were merely being emotional.

So with his lack of friends, Nate found himself spending a lot of time on his own. This little adventure being proof of that. This morning he had donned his dark grey swim trunks, and a black AC/DC shirt, prepped for a day of swimming and sand castles. A magnificent sand castle which took nearly two hours of his time to perfect. Some may say wasted time, but Nate would strongly disagree. Though he was noticeably irritated when the waves of the lake swept up onto the shore and destroyed his masterpiece. After all, he had put his blood, sweat, and tears into that castle...Well, sweat at least. It was quite hot out after all, and he had felt beads of perspiration forming on the nape of his neck. That had been about the point when he had promptly dove straight into the lake. A bad idea too considering he'd chosen a rather shallow part of the lake. He'd been lapping the lake for nearly thirty minutes at this point, but he'd jerked slightly when the appearance of a certain bubbly blonde-head interrupted his peace and quiet. Peace and quiet..Ha. If peace and quiet meant him screeching his rendition of 'Call Me Maybe'. He only paused over the lyrics 'so here's my number' when the blonde resurfaced and enthusiastically swam over to him.

"Brilliant, actually. But if you think of that idea, baby, you know where to find me, maybe." Nate grinned, winking at the girl (proud of his 'call me maybe' parody) despite the fact that he had still yet to put a name to the face. Which in reality was only fair. After all, there was only one augur, whereas there were a couple dozen campers. Still, he had a fairly good memory so he had faith that he could think of the name. And if not, the 'hey you' card had become pretty convincing. "Well I might be better if you had been considerate enough to bring me a peanut better and jelly sandwich. But I suppose I'll get over it...or cry myself to sleep tonight. Either or, Clare." Nate shrugged, wiping a nonexistent tear from his eyelashes, while putting extra emphasis on the name which he had so proudly remembered. Point One: Augur.

tag ;;

[/b] clare!
word count ;;[/b] 658

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[Deleted]

Clare grinned at his little play on words that was pretty obviously linked to a song she had just been listening to just yesterday. Okay, he was officially cool. “Alright, I’ll call you maybe.” She carefully attempted the delicate procedure of shoving the bag of shells into her pocket without risking breaking any. “I can make you one too if you want. I’ve never tried it before, so I don’t know how it’ll turn out, but how hard can it be? Either way, it’ll be fun. If you want to try making one too, you’re welcome to.”

She frowned a little when he started into saying that he might be better. “Oh. Well, does an I owe you work?” Though it was kind of funny and confusing at the same time as to why Nate saw fit to emphasize her name. It reminded a bit too much of whenever she got in trouble. Like yesterday. It had been another one of those really, really boring lectures on how to get a head up on your opponent when faced with overwhelming odds and fighting solo. It wasn’t something that happened often, considering how much the Roman style relied on group combat, but didn’t hurt to know. Trouble was, Xander and Damien had already given her a crash course, complete with ganging up on her in a full attack. That had been interesting. But on the bright side, after three tries, she managed to kick their butts. So the lecture was rather dull and before long she was doodling. She had no clue how long it was before the older camper who had been teaching it wasn’t so much teaching as hovering over her with a scowl. Even her trademark innocent grin and attempt to explain it away hadn’t saved her that time.

Right! Back to what was going on here and now. She was pretty sure she wasn’t in trouble as she’d done nothing she thought could be taken wrongly, and she’d also never seen Nathan Holloway angry. That would be kind of scary. Except that the mental image of a fortune cookie with angry eyes was a little funny. But yes, she went on assuming he probably wasn’t mad. “So what are you up to this fine day, Nate?” Though she couldn’t help but laugh a little at his dramatic wiping away of a fake tear. She quickly hid the laugh, which only went so well, but A for effort. “Yes, I’m horribly sorry about the whole sandwich mix-up,” she said, laying on the pouty apologetics as much as she could. “The note must have gotten lost in the mail. Next time I’ll be sure to bring you a sandwich as well. What type do you prefer? Maybe I can bring some cookies too.”

That detail put to the side, she was ready to get back to the important things. Like chatting up the augur. That, and if she stayed on that topic too much longer, she would have to raid the shops on the Via Principalis for something sweet or cookie-like. Ooh, or cookies and ice cream. Yes, that one sounded like the winner.

WORD COUNT: 525
TAG: NATE!