On the Boardwalk (open)

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"You can use some of mine if you want Josh." Charlie said as she offered him some sunscreen. But she withdrew her arm as Rhia offered Josh the mortal sunscreen that she had apparently purchased. Charlie watched Rhia out of the corner of her eye. She really did look good and pretty despite the obvious discomfort that she had. Charlie grinned at her before returning her attentions to more of the families. "You really do look pretty, Rhia. But between you and me, I think these little monkey suits are ridiculous." Charlie said, shaking her head. A bunch of Roman's sitting on the beach like this, just hanging out. It was nice, a good change from beating each other senseless with swords and shields and any other assorted weapons you could think of. Charlie felt good that most of the bruises were pretty much faded from her body. About ten days ago she had really gotten into it in the arena, bruises littered her body from where she had been slugged in her armor. She had even slightly fractured her shoulder from where she got hit with her shield. It ached pretty badly and it was blue and black for near a week. But after going fairly easy on it, but it wasn't too bad off now.


"The water is fine, it just takes a bit of getting used to." Charlie commented as Josh waded into the water. As she let the boat go, she watched it disappear under the water. It was a sign that Neptune was a bit happy at the offering. Not that she had ever met the god, she heard that he was one of the more easy going gods. Apollo was pretty easy going but a huge flirt. Charlie wished that she was spending time here on the beach with August, but hanging out with Rhia and Josh, that was just as good. Charlie didn't have many friends, so the little that she had were treasured. Charlie had managed to get her shivering under control. But after she got the shakes under control, Charlie waded out a bit further where the water was a bit colder. Charlie took a deep breath as she resigned to herself about what she was about to do. Charlie watched the fish dart back and forth through the semi-murky water that swirled and lurched against her pale body. Charlie let the breath out slowly as she concentrated on the undulating surface before her. Charlie inhaled sharply and dove under the water.


It was cold to the parts of her body that weren't used to the frigid water. So pretty much everything from her waist up was cold. She held her breath until her lungs burned and she surfaced about three feet away from her friends. Her body shivered and the wind whipped over the wet skin. She shivered and looked at her friends, her teeth chattering and her body shivering hard. She brushed the wet hair out of her face. "It just takes a little bit to get used to. But this is pretty nice."

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Rhia offered him some of her suntan lotion, so as Charlie, he looked at them and then smiled at them both. "I forgot to get some of it..." he ginned and grabbed the bottle that rhia offered to him. "thank you Charlie, next time I'll take yours" he smiled a bit more and put on some on his arms, chest, and back, also on his legs and face. Then he left the bottle on the black widow towel and walked back to the shore, then he breathed deeply and walked into the water again.

Josh looked down at the water and smiled. it looked kind of different than the water in the beaches in Mexico or in Europe. The water there wasn't completely blue but kind of faded blue, the one in southern Mexico was like bright blue, in europa was also like a grayish blue, it was really different and beautiful to see how was the world. Maybe besides the sand dollar he threw into the sea, he would make other offerings to Neptune when he got back to the camp. Just because he loved the view of the seas. Then he looked up again and smiled at Charlie and Rhia. "Well, your body just need to adjust to the water's temperature."

He smiled and got a bit more deeper into the water. He felt how the cold temperature hit his legs. The feeling on his skin was as if thousands of small daggers were stabbing his skin, he frowned and continued getting deeper until the water was at his waist level, he looked at his skin and it took a paler color, kind of violet, he knew it was normla, so he just breathed deeply and tried not to shiver at the temperature of the water. Then he saw Rhia was coming closer, he smiled and frowned at her. "come on! the water isn't that bad!"

He walked out of the water, closer to where Rhia was. "It isn't as cold as it looks like, Rhia. besides, you'll enjoy it." He smiled at her widely, he has an idea, but maybe she would hate him after that. He usually made jokes, dark jokes, but never to Rhia, maybe because he respected as a friend, maybe because he didn't want to hurt her or her feelings. People thought she was tough as a rock, but she had a tender core inside. "come on, or I'll lift you in arms and carry you to the water" he said smiling, he hoped she knew he was half joking half being honest.

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With a glance at Charlie she was complimented again, and it was not something she was used to. Rhiannon didn't mind being complimented if it was her fighting, or maybe if she ever got a spell right a compliment would be good, but her complements on her looks where different. It was not skill, merely some standard she was born with, and possibly some body sculpting that was an aftermath of training for the legion. She didn't want to disagree though, she knew what happened of that, normally people simply push the issue. "Thanks, I'm not fond of these things sether...either. she said blushing, it had been a while since her English slipped up. "You are attractive also. she decided to put it in, since it was customary to return a compliment. Though she supposed she should have done the same for Josh, some how it didn't seem as necessary to say to a male. It was too late now, whatever the custom.

Bumps and bruises could be seen here and there on Charlies skin, looking at her own fairly smooth skin Rhiannon wondered if she had been training enough. About the only scar she had was the one on her cheek, it wasn't too deep but face skin just doesn't seem to heal up as well as the rest of it. Though it could have just been the skill of the cabin medics. She remembered a broken bone or too also that probably wouldn't have healed as well as they did if not for the Apollo cabin. Rhiannon felt something slide across her leg and the feeling sent a chill up her spine. The water was not the clearest but in it she saw a small school of fish swimming around and past her legs. She was just glad it wasn't a nurse shark or something. After the little shutter the water really didn't seem too bad. She was still cold for sure, but it was nowhere near as bad now.

Looking at her company she watched as Charlie seemed to wade deeper into the surf, as Rhiannon was about to ask where the girl was going Charlie dove into the frigid water. Rhiannon's jaw dropped, that was certainly more gutsy then she was going to do. Her arms dropped from the huddled position as she waded a little farther in, leaving her shivering arms to rest atop the waves. Rhiannon waited for Charlie to surface again.

The girl surfaced again, teeth chattering and obviously freezing her golden hair off little over arms reach away. Rhiannon simply shook her head. "I don't care what you two say, this is cold water. I really wouldn't mind if we jump into this after a sauna, but there is no place to jump in to warm up again. Crazies. she said in her normal serious tone, though from the smirk on her face it was mostly just picking on them.

"Look I'm already in the freezing winter ocean what more do you want. she asked Josh after his comment about lifting her. She waved her arms around underwater, it was up to her rib cage now. "There has got to be somewhere to get warm after all this. she said as she slowly lowered her body underwater, the chill rising to her neck as she bobbed up and down. After a little while it seemed warmer in the water than it did out, possibly due to the lack of wind. "Okay....you guys might be right...

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Charlie noticed Rhia’s discomfort at the mention of the compliment but she didn’t think much of it. She knew how rare compliments like that were to come by, not all of them were sincere. But Charlie meant the words she said. Though she imagined that it might have been awkward coming from her, but after being in the legion for so long, commenting on other people and how they looked was territory that was generally reserved for the Venus kids, which Charlie was mistaken as for by the new campers who hadn’t yet found her personality. Those were always some of the most fun times, unleashing a beastly hell upon unsuspecting campers. Oh how she enjoyed making their nightmares look like happy places. But that was when it was time to work, now was time to play. Of course normal play time for Charlie meant sharp and pointy objects and lots of dismemberment and blood. Those were fun things. Lots of blood meant lots of fun to a child of Mars. Anyone else would look at a child of Mars and wonder about their sanity, but Charlie was perfectly sane, even more so than some of the children of Bacchus, but she wouldn’t ever say that to the drunken god himself. She wasn’t that stupid.

The dive under the water was invigorating. An unsuspecting wave crashed over Charlie’s head. She noticed how much different the waves were here than they were in North Carolina. The East Coast Ocean was a steely blue and the waves were never powerful enough to knock you over, unless of course you were a toddler. Or an unsuspecting tourist. These waves were powerful, strong, but Charlie wondered if there was a connection to the west coast and Neptune and the east coast and Poseidon. Charlie shook the thought out of her mind; the subject of the Greeks was taboo for a reason. Charlie wasn’t about to bring up the topic to anyone here. She didn’t want to dampen the spirits of the nice day. Again, Charlie dove under the water, her blond hair floated around her, making her look like a banshee or a mermaid or something. She spotted a beautiful looking shell, and after assessing that it wasn’t inhabited, she pushed up from the bottom of the ocean floor. “Look at this guys!” Charlie exclaimed, a bit happy about her find. The shell was white, spirals of pink wound its way around the shell. Charlie could always appreciate the beauty in nature, but she wouldn’t admit it to people outside of her friendzone. That was a no-no. Besides Mars kids didn’t have emotions. They were programed out at birth.

The sun had risen to its apex, the sun was making everything much warmer, even the sand was starting to get blistering hot. Charlie soaked up the sun and took refuge atop the Iron Man towel she had. Her stomach grumbled and she clapped a hand over it, trying to keep it from being too loud and obnoxious. That was alright, but she would need some sustenance sometime soon. People had started to crowd the beach, though this particular area was quiet and only families seemed to be here, it was a tad bit further away from the crowds. “anyone else hungry?” Charlie asked, pulling out a few snacks.

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Josh tried to keep his mind away from the girl talk, they were compliment each other and that made him feel kind of uncomfrotable. It wasn't that he didn't think they were beautiful, in fact her thought that! But he tried not to think on them in that way. Charlie was a good friend but also kind of his aunt, so he thought it was kind of nasty to even try to think on charlie in a flirteous way. On the other hand Rhia was his best friend, he couldn't say like a sister, even when he had thought of her in that was before, those days it was difficult to think of her as a sister, but she definetely was his best friend and he wasn't going to be a flirteous jerk to her!

He looked at Rhia walking closer to where Charlie and himself were, Rhia was shorter than they were and the water got to her torso soon. He saw her lips and were turning kind of blue. He smiled and shook his head, it was kind of funny looking at her like that, yet he knew in the back of his head that he should do something and take her to the safety of the sand... but why?! suddenly a freezbie almost hit his head, he dodged and the water covered his head for a couple of seconds then he popped out again and heard the voice of a little boy and a little girl yelling from the shore.

The toy was theirs and they had been playing with it until the wind took it far to the water domain, josh smiled and swam to where the toy was floating. He grabbed it and then threw it back, it landed by the kids feet. He waved and the kids thanked him, then they ran next to their parents and continued playing with it. he then looked around and smiled at Rhia, for some reason he wanted her to tell him that he had done something really good. but his smile was just a common earnest smile.

then he looked around and noticed that charlie was already walking to where they had left the towells. He smiled at Rhia. "come on, let's get some heat, your lips are getting blue" he smiled and walked out of the water. He approached to Charlie and stood there while she asked if they were hungry. He was still dropping water and for sure he had dropped some over charlie too. "Charlie, you're talking to me... I'm like my father, I'm always hungry!" he laughed and looked around. "I don't see a place to buy some food..."

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The ocean was beautiful, and Rhiannon knelt so the blue water could cover her from the wind. She was submerged to her shoulders and let her legs freely float as she began to tread water. Her arms provided sufficient lift to keep her head above water, while her long dark brown hair floated around her. Not far away she could see charlies blond hair shifting with the tide underwater. It collected around her near the bottom, before she sot back up toward the surface. Rhiannon placed her legs firmly on the sand below before she made her way to see what the Mars girl had been so excited about. I was a rather remarkable little white and pink sea shell. For a moment Rhiannon was a bit dumb founded, the mars girl had found something pink to be cute. Though for a moment the thought that human innards are also a pink color came to mind. She highly doubted it was the same, and just as anyone else Charlie was a mortal girl prone to finding things like this beautiful. “Very nice, amazing nothing has taken it as a home.”

Rhiannon felt the water displace to her side as Josh quickly ducked underwater, it was not even a second later that a Frisbee flew over him landing gently in the water. She smirked at him, that demi-god sense of an incoming hit was still working perfectly. The voices of children carried to Rhiannon's ears as she turned to look at the beach, there were two little kids requesting their Frisbee back. They were not being rude in the slightest, and Rhiannon couldn't help but like those who were polite. As she listened to them the very Frisbee she had seen fly past was now sailing smoothly toward their feet. They really did seem like good kids and a smile forced itself across her face. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Josh looking at her, and rolled her eyes. “What? I can smile at kids sometimes. They seemed nice enough, glad you could get them their toy.” she said patting him on the arm.

The warmth of the sun on Rhiannon's shoulders made her glad she had the Apollo's sun screen, the prospect of sun burn was not an appealing one. It seemed even Josh had finally agreed that she should not be in the cold ocean waters, and he had been so adamant about her getting in them in the first place. Returning to the dry sand Rhiannon found it to be incredibly warm and painful to walk on. She quickly made her way to the Black Widow towel she had waiting for her at their little camp out spot. The cold wind crawled over her damp skin, and her hair hung heavy with water dripping onto the sand and her towel. An audible grumble came from Charlies stomach, and Rhiannon could help but realize she had not eaten for the day. Food at the legion was normally served on time, and if you didn't make it you didn't get food. Rhiannon liked to sleep in.

“I just so happens that I have not eaten today.” Rhiannon wondered if Josh would make a comment about her missing breakfast everyday, but continued anyway. “Perhaps we should find a place get food from before the area gets too saturated with people.” she looked off to the side that had already began to gather crowds of young people. They seemed to be about the age the three of them were, but much more rowdy and loud. Rhiannon could remember that it was the same when she was very little, but she'd have though people would grow up. Watching them for a while it seemed almost as if the beach were a place to choose a suitable mate. It was like the books she read about animal behavior.

“What he says is true, both ha and his father had what seem to be bottomless pis for stomachs.” she said with a small laugh, it may have been because she liked picking on people to show her affection that she liked the Mercury family. It seemed to be something they all had, as opposed to many of the others that threw a fit when you said something they didn't like. “There is always somewhere to eat when a place gathers large numbers of people. I'm sure if we looked around a little bit we'll find somewhere.”

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Charlie quickly stashed the pink spiraled sea shell into her bag so no one would mess with it. Josh seemed to be in a whole different world then the one that everyone else was currently residing on. Sometimes Charlie could only imagine how guys could space out into their own dimension. “I’m totally gonna keep this, as long as it’s alright with Neptune.” Charlie commented. She was waiting for a sign that she should put it back, but when it seemed like there was nothing bad going on, there was no sign that she should put it back, Charlie felt confident that it would make an excellent memory of this improve beach trip that she had decided to embark on. It was a wonderful time and such fun, Charlie had never really gone out of her way to break the rules but this was way worth it. Maybe she would do it again sometime, that would be such a wonderful time. Maybe next time she could talk Felicity and August into coming with her. Well… maybe not the both of them together seeing as how their relationship was rather poor and the two wanted to strangle each other every time one saw the other.

Charlie watched as a Frisbee flew over her head and Josh obliged the rather polite children by throwing their toy back to them. They were polite and it was strange to see Rhia smile at someone who wasn’t Josh or Inek. But Charlie preferred the little kids to be polite. “You know I wonder if it’s because of being demi-gods that most of the younger campers are such a pain in the neck?” Charlie mused to no one in particular, but loud enough for her two companions to hear. Maybe it was the legion that really drilled respect and discipline into its members. But then again, some of the legionnaires had been in the legion for a good long time and still acted like they were little pains in the neck. “okay so food… “ Charlie used her training to survey the area. She discerned high points of attacks and rather defendable points should the need arise. Charlie noticed a few shady looking characters but that was mostly due to the fact that a lot of mortals that were her age and the age of her two friends, they were morons. Disrespectful, rude and egocentric, that was the best way to describe the other teens. “There’s a boardwalk up that ways a bit, it looks like it has some real food.” Charlie glanced skyward. It was only about eleven in the morning so she wondered if the places were actually open.

“Come on guys!” Charlie slipped on her shorts and left her bikini top on before grabbing a pair of flip flops and making a mad dash for the foot washing station. The sand was hot and it was like stepping on a bed of hot coals. The cool water washing the sand and grit off her feet was a welcome feeling. “Oh ow.. that was really hot.” Charlie said with a frown as she slipped her feet into her flipflops. She imagined that the arena sand was similar to that in the middle of summer. But it was just surprising how hot the sun got the sand in such a short amount of time.

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Josh looked around and checked the possible places to go and find some food. He was so hungry that possibly he would be able to eat a whole cow by himself and not a common one, but the red ones that Apollo loved to have in his personal ranch! Of course, he would never offend the god in such way, it was just a way to describe his hunger in that moment. He felt his stomach growling again, this time a bit more noisy. He sighed and then smiled at Rhia's comment about his stomach without a bottom. He chuckled and shruged as he commented about it. "It's not my fault, it seems that we, Mercury's kin, have a much faster methabolism than others back at home!" He smirked and then looked at the place that Charlie told them about.

As he was looking at the breadwalk, he smiled at Charlie's comment about demigods, He snorted and then nodded. "well not all of the guys back in camp are that bad. But maybe our ADHD or the way we were rised, our problems and losses are the ones that make us such a pain in the butt." he shruged. He saw that some people were already there, the food stands were even more crowded, so they would have to go to the ones on the broadwalk and have some real beach food. "I love seafood!" He said resting his hand on his belly, well the six pack that had replaced the kid's belly long time ago due the daily exercise.

Josh saw how Charlie ran to get to wash her feet, then he looked at the sand and knew it was hot. He wasn't fond of hot stuff, it was something he never could stand. Only when he was in the beach he liked the heat and the sun, otherwise, he rather stay in the shadows and in a cool place. He could get to the feet shower really fast, he would hardly feel the heat of the sand, but he also knew that people would notice it, so, he was going to do it as a common mortal, burning his feet. He looked at Rhia and smiled widely. "ready for a race to feet shower?" He asked and smirked. "don't worry, I won't use my real speed, I can't with so many people around." he said and then looked at Charlie she was already finishing. "ready or not..." he said and started running to where Charlie was. the sand was burning his feet, but in a way it was fun, at least different from usual Camp days.

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Rhiannon was not looking forward to that run to the foot washing station. She watched Charlie sprint across the hot sand, and saw the vapor rising up from where her own hair had left temporary wet spots in the sand. She felt like she might be fine just sitting there, but then her stomach started making complaints. Of course it was fine until the prospect of food was mentioned. Now it felt almost like something was eating her from the inside out. Next time she might have to start food hording so she can eat at midnight instead of skipping meals. She liked eating, and it was terrible not having the mess hall open in the middle of the night. There was always the choice of getting Josh to get food, though she disliked giving him a reason to leave camp. He was always awake, and he'd also probably eat with her, so maybe more problems would be solved than made? She'll think about it later, didn't matter right now.

The voice that cut into her thoughts was Josh, she looked up to see him standing there. She guessed she was so used to his company her ADHD didn't kick in every time he moved, because he moved a lot. Rhiannon was pretty sure he didn't keep still. "I know you're not that stupid, but it's a good thing you have more self restraint than me. I don't think I could run across the sand normally if I had your speed." she said with a sigh as she got up and wrung her hair out in a spot next to her towel. She stepped onto the cool wet sand and picked up her towel, shaking the sand out away from Josh. He started running already, she supposed it was good since he had been the one standing in sand as she picked her things up. She mad quick work out of balling the thing up and shoving it in her bag, running before she had gotten it all the way inside. She ran, trying not to run full out, trying her hardest and still could not help but run faster than what most mortals could. Sure there was always the Olympic runner that could beat her, but the Roman training was rough sometimes.

She made it to the showers and shoved her feet under the cool running water. A sigh of relief left her as she felt the burning hot sand partials fall off her feet. It felt so good, the sand might turn to glass today. Probably not, but it sure felt like it should be melting by now. Rhiannon pulled the towel from her bag and folded it properly before handing it back to Charlie. "Thanks. I don't know the last time I had to run across hot sand like that, not sure if I ever have actually. Anyway what are we doing for food?" Rhiannon took the flip flops from her bag and clapped them together getting any sand on them off before putting them on her wet feet. She then pulled out the souvenir T-shirt she had been wearing earlier. Charlie had only put on a pair of shorts, but heck at least she has shorts. Rhiannon was still walking around in a bikini and t-shirt. It was almost like underwear and a t-shirt. Rhiannon had trouble seeing why people saw it as okay to be seen in these tiny two piece things but not normal underwear. It was almost the same thing. "Is that a Gyro place?" Rhiannon's eyes caught the sign. It had some weird name, but also a chalk board with what looked like 'Gyro' along with other things, on it.

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Food. It’s simply something that was important to have to keep the body going. Charlie liked food, she liked good food and she liked sharing it with friends. More importantly, she was curious as to what kind of food was floating about the boardwalk. Anything but those golden arches and that gods forsaken burger king that was staring at people from above the line of shops. Fast food was so bad and it tasted gross. Charlie really wished that for a brief moment, there was someone else to share the time with, other than being the third wheel to Rhia and Josh. But at least they weren’t being too bad. She had gotten that grossed out feeling when two of her previous friends in the first cohort had started dating. Not that she was against people being together, but it was so lovey dovey and gross that Charlie thought that she was going to get diabetes from all of the sweetness that went on. Thank the gods that Josh and Rhia was nowhere near as bad as those two were. They were two years older than she was and they had just gotten married not but a few weeks ago. Charlie had been her female friend’s Maid of honor. She looked like such an idiot standing there in that fluffy pink dress with some pink parasol looking like someone had pulled her out of a bag of Jelly Beans. Charlie’s eyes darted as she watched people walk back and forth, ugh it was like spring time and a bunch of couples cooped up during winter time had finally come out of the woodworks. Gross….

“Gyro? Greek food?” Charlie shook her head. “Nah… no thanks. But if you want it, go for it.” Charlie said as she looked in the direction of what Josh said. Sea food? That sounded like a good idea to her. Oh did she love crab legs. Sure she would have to work off all the fat that it would put in her body, but Roman training would have those bad carbs worked out in the second she would run out on the obstacle course. She would do a single run through the obstacle course or just look at it and the fat would drop off. Charlie was lucky to have a high metabolism, though it was nowhere near to the same degree as Josh’s , the children of Mercury were lucky when they had such a quick way of burning off fats. The smells permeated through the air and Charlie started to salivate slightly. She wanted to eat, but as this was the outside world, there were no wind spirits to float the food down in front of her. Her feet tingled as she stepped on them with her feet in the flip flops. It hurt like hell but she would manage with it. She put the towel that Rhia had given back to her in the bag and she produced an Aloe Gel to put on her feet. The cooling water made her feet feel good, but it was temporary. “You guys need this? It will take the sting out of the burn rather quick.” Charlie said as she rubbed the cooling gel on her heels. “That feels much better.” She said as she offered the tube to her friends.

The boardwalk was much more like a carnival or something of that nature. There were people hawking games and trying to get people wanting to guess her weight and birthday and things of that nature. Sure there were some really cool looking stuffed animals and she had quite the thing for them. Charlie would never admit to having a love for stuffed animals, it just was…girly, for lack of the better word. Charlie had to uphold her image of being the quintessential Mars kid. Even if her Dad wasn’t the easiest to get along with, Charlie still had to be the leader. “Anything you guys want to do when you’re here?” Charlie asked as she looked about the boardwalk. Sure there were rides and things to do. Charlie remembered the last time that she had been to a fair or a carnival; it was when she was five. She didn’t want to remember that sort of thing. It was hard. It was a memory of happier times that she spent with her mother and grandfather and grandmother. It was before all of this Legion mess, before the wolves, before the deaths. Charlie had changed, she really had. It was a good change, maybe. Charlie had never really had friends or a home before now and she was grateful.

“First time I’ve been to one of these in a long time.” Charlie commented as she turned her attention to the messenger bag at her hip. She pulled out a water bottle and took a long sip before offering it to Josh or Rhia. She didn’t want to be rude. “Or at least we can do rock, paper, scissors for lunch or we can meet up some place.” Charlie was just listing the options for what they could do. Charlie just knew that she didn’t really want greek food. The last time she had attempted to eat it, it was something that tried to strangle her while she swallowed it. That was the weirdest feeling ever. It ended up feeling like she had a brick in her stomach for the next week or so. She didn’t want be a killjoy but Charlie was always willing to compromise when it came to her friends. She pulled her arm out of her bag as she watched her friends, wanting to make a decision.

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Josh looked at Rhia and smiled widely, he kind of understand her words. holding back, acting like a mortal was kind of difficult when you had already spent half of your life in a place where you not only had to show your special abilities, but also use them to the top, train with them and master them. Being back in the mortal world was like a very weird dream, those kind of dreams where you had to run and for some bizarre reason you order your body to run but it moves slower than a snail! In the case of Josh was like knowing he could run faster than anyone in that place, but couldn't do it.

"I know what you mean, but I must force myself to be... slow. If not I could put you and Charlie in danger..." he smiled and then put on his slippers, then walked to where Charlie was, Rhia was there too, ready to go and grab a bite of whatever they could. Josh looked at the place where Rhia pointed at. It seemed to be a nice, clean place. People seemed to be enjoying the food, he saw a group of friends laughing and telling jokes as they waited for their food, but there was a small problem with that place... it was Greek food.

Josh loved all kind of food, but Greek... whenever he eat it it was as if it had no flavor at all, and he hated flavorless food!! He sighed and rubbed the back of his head, then looked at them and shrugged. "Well... you know I love food, all of it! but... I'm not really into Greek food... so why don't we just... go to other place." maybe Rhia really wanted a gyro so he sighed and continued. "or we could buy a Gryo for you..." told Rhia. "then just go to another stand and buy other kind of food for Charlie and me." He said as he looked around for another stand of food.

"ok, we have sea food & salads over there..." he said and then saw a place like a subway. "sandwiches..." He also saw a hamburger place, but he knew Charlie didn't really like those, so he wasn't going to mention them, he wanted them to enjoy it, it wasn't his solo trip anymore, he was in company of great friends and he was going to make that trip be great for them! "I'd love some sea food, but I'll get whatever you want, but Greek food" He smiled at them. Then he looked again at the stands and it was weird, there were some people looking at them as if they were the most interesting thing on the broadwalk that day.

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Honestly? Rhiannon hated sea food. It disgusted her. Crustaceans were okay, but the rest of it was just plain gross. Except squid jerky. That was perhaps the weirdest thing Mercury had ever brought to camp, and very good. Rhiannon avoided groaning at the thought of both Josh and Charlie agreeing on that kind of food. Of course the two people she was with would like the one thing she hated. She sighed defeated, not much of the type to get food in different places, especially when you had three delicious demigods waiting for something to eat them. No, Rhiannon was not going to split from the group for anything. She hadn't expected such dislike for Greek food, the people perhaps and the weakling gods, but the food? Why be biased against the food? Rhiannon wasn't set on it though, so that was fine. She hadn't eaten breakfast so almost anything sounded, and smelled awesome right now. You know, except that one thing they both mentioned. Though Rhiannon had a pretty good amount of self confidence in being able to find something on any menu she was willing to eat. Put enough spice on anything and your tongue will burn too bad to recognize a taste. That was the good stuff. Yeah, Rhiannon knew she was weird, and yeah she didn't care.

“Thanks” Rhiannon said taking the tube of aloe to her aching feet. She put the aloe in her hands before capping it again and handing it back. It was immediate relief, right now Charlie was the only person Rhiannon felt so grateful for. She was actually prepared for the beach, sunscreen and this aloe. So wonderful and cooling aloe. Rhiannon avoided looking the part of how good it felt, but a relieved sigh escaped her.

Looking around it was hard to not notice the carnival like nature, except for Rhiannon it just looked like a huge mess. She was pretty sure she went to a carnival once when she was little, and screamed and cried because there was too many people. Sounded about right. She hated people, at least in large unorganized groups. Her eyes scanned the area, until she saw a rather large fluffy stuffed animal. She couldn't help but smile. “Totoro!” she said aloud not quite meaning to, but also not caring at the moment. Monsters? Creatures wanting to attack? Nah, there's a giant Totoro over there, and Rhiannon went over to it. There was also a Catbus, but that wasn't as large and fluffy as the Totoro. It was about the size of a pillow. Not for sale apparently, a thing you had to win. Annoyances again. Stupid little carnival game. Throw a ball through a hoop? Sure, pick something with throwing why don't you. Rhiannon looked at it plotting. She was good over short distances, maybe a couple arm lengths at most. Sure, might as well try. She was more used to weapon throwing, more specifically daggers, but it wasn't much different, except this didn't matter what end you put in the target.

Rhiannon walked back to the group with her new stuffed animal in her arms. “So we're going sea food?” she said not caring anymore. She had a straight face on while talking to them, and even while walking up to them despite the happiness she couldn't completely hide from her voice. She wasn't sure why, but she just was not a fan of smiling and being ridiculous in public. Angry was acceptable. Possibly the Roman training. She did however think leaving the group even for a moment was a flaw in thought, but gosh darn if the thing wasn't cute and fluffy. She didn't get much for cute fluffy things, possibly because she didn't exactly go anywhere other than the forest and the library. It was pretty doubt able that people even realized how much she liked cute fluffy things, but that was not her problem. No one ever asked.