wet feet (open)

[aiden]

Aiden took in a deep breath. A little bit of relaxation was in order, or at least Aiden felt that it was. She slung her bow and quiver over her shoulder as she dropped them off in the barracks where she locked it tightly. The lock was something that she had commissioned by one of the random Vulcan kids in the forge; it was something to keep the mercury kids and legacies from stealing some of her more personal effects. It had been done more than once so Aiden was quick to find a way to stop it. So after she clicked the lock shut, she grabbed her guitar before heading into New Rome. It was a warm and sunny spring day. It would seem that her dad, or whatever Apollo was to her in any case, had decided to make a wonderful day. Though to be honest, Aiden didn’t know much about the gods, not that she particularly cared to learn. She knew that Apollo was the god of the Sun, healing, prophecy and archery and the arts, Aiden knew that Jupiter was the king of the skies and that Neptune was the god of the seas, Pluto ruled the underworld and Mars was the god of war. Aiden was a good little Roman and she made her offerings but Aiden knew that there was really only one person that could make her feel better about herself and that was her.

Aiden got a pat down from Terminus and then proceeded to head to the temples to make her offerings. But that was the extent of her dealings with the gods. Her guitar case banged against her leg as she walked around the lake. There were some Venus kids sunbathing on their towels laid upon the grass and a few people, namely families, playing in the shallows of the lake. There were ducks, quacking and paddling amongst the reeds and lily pads, and a few little kids throwing some bread to the hungry ducks. Aiden took a sip from her water bottle she had purchased from a vendor in the city. The weather was perfect and it seemed like there were a lot of people that were hanging out around the lake shore. But the spot that she found was nice and quiet. Shaded and not too sunny, a nice breeze floated around the lake, the bushes and trees infused the wind with the scent of flowers that were in bloom. Aiden kicked off her flipflops and basked her feet in a small patch of sun.

There was the sound of a click as Aiden popped the fastenings of her guitar case open. The mahogany colored guitar gleamed at her from amongst its cushioned home. Aiden ran her fingers over the strings, listening to the sound of the strings, vibrating in her ears. She vaguely could hear the roar of the crowd and see the flashing of the lights in the minds eye, her name was chanted as she looked over the stadium that was filled to the brim with people. Aiden let out a slow breath before she wrapped her calloused hand around the neck of the guitar and pulled it into her lap where she sat cross-legged in the grass. Slowly and quietly she started to strum a few chords of a familiar song that was one of her dad’s favorite to play. No, not Apollo, her mortal dad, her real dad. He was the man she called daddy for the longest time, Gage was the most important man in her life at the moment. Aiden wished that she could bring him here. She wanted her mom and dad to know that she was alright, that she was doing fine. The letters she received from her dad were just not enough, she wanted more, Aiden craved more. Aiden wanted the physical contact, the hugs, the kisses, the hand squeezes and the music lessons.

But Aiden knew that no matter how much she craved the contact or the comfort of her mortal family, she was a Roman. Romans didn’t need to have things like that, or at least that was what her centurion had told her when she was younger. Romans are independent, yet capable of working flawlessly together to achieve world domination. Aiden wasn’t exactly the lovey dovey Venus type, but she wasn’t exactly the Mars kill kill death and explosions type. Aiden wasn’t quite sure what she was, but she knew for certain she wasn’t much when it came to the Roman standards. Sure she could shoot an arrow out of the air or hit a three finger mark five hundred yards out, but that archery thing wasn’t looked upon too favorably when it came to Roman warfare. But at least Aiden was happy with what she was.

[elijah]

It was a nice enough afternoon that even Elijah Sanders was comfortable with venturing out into the sunshine. He typically kept to himself unless he was forced to do otherwise. People in general were just not his cup of coffee (coffee, not tea-he wasn't a British prat after all) so more often than not, he didn't wander from the places in which he found comfort unless he had reason to, or if he was unlikely to have to interact with the typically irritating residents of Camp Jupiter-or in this case, New Rome. Today though, he had made an exception. After all, despite the fact that he had a reputation for disliking nearly anything and everything, and also for mocking nearly anything and everything, he really did have a certain liking for the 'perfect' day. Apollo finally had the sun set at the right temperature, there was the slightest breeze, the birds were chirping-all of that sentimental, sappy crap.

After his short session of training with a couple of younger legionnaires, Elijah had slipped back to his barracks and switched out his clothing for a simple t-shirt and some swimming trunks (just in case the lake happened to empty out enough for him to feel comfortable going for a quiet swim). Keeping it barefoot, the older demi-god left the cabin, attempting not to scowl at the innocent passerbys even if it was a usual habit for him. Of course it didn't last long, because inevitably someone would whisper something or another about him and he would retort with a comment filled with snark or ever-lasting sarcasm. After too long though, he just started to ignore the stares and whispers, and continued on his path to the lake in New Rome. Even though fire didn't exactly mix well with water, Elijah was an avid fan of the lake, especially when the day was a touch too warm.

Upon his arrival at the lake, however, he could tell that today wasn't going to be one of those days where he could enjoy the cool waters. Nope, one too many children for his liking, he wrinkled his nose in distaste, changing his path just as quickly and heading for a shady tree instead. A tree which was-great, he rolled his eyes-just as occupied as everything else, it seemed. The girl underneath it already gave him the impression that she was annoying (though it was just by her existence that he could assume she might annoy him easily). However, she at least seemed to have a knack for guitar-which impressed him ever so slightly. He had an appreciation for music, after all.

Now despite all of his negativity and cynicism that he was internally battling, Elijah continued with his walk until he had arrived at the same tree. Leaning to his left, the Vulcan demigod propped himself against the bark, basking in the cool shade that the overhanging leaves provided as his blue eyes fixed themselves on the girl seated below him. "What? No vocal accompaniment?

[/color]" He raised an eyebrow, neither completely rude, nor friendly. It was only a matter of time though before he decided in which manner he might treat the girl (not that he really ever chose anything besides being rude, but there was always the minuscule possibility that he might decide to play nice with the little kids of the camp). "Tsk, tsk, disappointing, little girl.[/color]"



tag ,, aiden
word count ,, 565[/blockquote][/size]

[aiden]

Aiden had really been enjoying the song she had been playing. She was never really one for singing because she didn’t want to go through the whole deal of the ‘you’re an amazing singer, you should go to Hollywood and become a star.’ Sort of deal. Then you end up in this place where everyone is either a singer or an actress because they had the lead in this play somewhere, sang every day in the church choir, came to California to realize their dreams of being a singer/actress on the word of their obscure relative that said they were too good to be hanging around some dumpy little town in the south or the middle of nowhere and so they ditched their friends, family and jock boyfriend. It was stupid. Though after getting her college degree, Aiden knew that she would have a better chance than all of the other people that came to California, her dad would make sure of that. It wasn’t just her dad that knew she had talent, no, every record label had been after her ever since she was three and learned to play the song “cliffs of Dover”. It was something that was complicated for even the most advanced of guitar players to learn, but she was able to play the song after only listening to it for a few minutes. Her music memory was on par with none other. Aiden found it to be one of her favorite songs to play. It reminded her of many happy times.

At the thought of happy times, Aiden continued to play her guitar, switching from one song to the next, her ADHD not allowing her to concentrate on one song for more than a few minutes at a time. It seemed that there were a good bit of people that didn’t seem to have such a happy time with their parents like she did. It was strange to her to know that there were many people whose parents shunned them for being born. Aiden tried to shake that thought from her mind. The children of the gods didn’t ask to be born and they didn’t decide that the just suddenly wanted to endanger everyone around them. It was something that just happened and blaming the demi-gods for their divine parent’s mistake was one of the crappiest things that the world could do to them. It was true; the fates were not kind to people. Often there was time of really bad luck that counteracted the good. Aiden knew that nemesis did that on more than one occasion. She felt that after the stories of the world that her mother had told her, she wanted to make sure that she did everything for the betterment of people instead of personal gain. It was better that for good or ill that people try to not tempt or change fate.

But the sound of a voice, rather cool and distant, made Aiden look up from her guitar. It was an older legionnaire, but she wasn’t sure of whom he was exactly. She could have sworn that she had seen him around on more than one occasion. “Sorry, but that song doesn’t have any vocals.” She said with a smile, though for a moment he was vaguely connected to Edmund in her mind, but she wasn’t sure why. He called her little girl, while it made her inwardly frown, she knew that there were many people in the legion that were older then she was. So in prospective, it wasn’t too bad of something to be called. She had heard some of the other things that people had been called. “If you want I can do a song with vocals.” She offered, though while the offer stood on the table, she thought that the male in front of her probably would brush it aside as many other people did. Being a singer or a rockstar wasn’t something that was very roman. Her skills in archery, on the other hand, were more than half decent. But she placed her fingers in a different positioning on the guitar before starting to play another song. Green Day was another favorite band of hers, though she wasn’t much one for punk rock music.

Words: 710
Songs Aiden is Playing:
cliffs of dover
green day song