No..seriously...you didn't see me here. (open)

[Benjamin Stellis]

Ben was running, but this time it was not for pleasure...it was more like necessity. A few weeks ago he and one of his brothers rigged up a contraption that made all of the bunks in the Hephaestus cabin honk like a duck whenever someone sat or laid down on them. It was something incredibly annoying, but harmless. That had been child's play, and something that might have just gone overlooked. However they had also rigged up the sprinkler system to react to the honks and spray lime jello down on the unsuspecting kids. It had been hilarious. The Hephaestus kids had poured out of the cabin soaked in green jello and furious, shouting words of revenge. The Hermes kids had mostly ignored them, and that had been all there was about it. The weeks had trickled by and there was no retaliation. He had assumed they had given up and went back to their inventions.

Then this afternoon when he was playing video games they busted into his cabin and held some sort of gun that looked like it was going to spew hot...pink...shaving cream? He wasn't sure and he had never seen it before so he ran. Sure he could have speed traveled, but running was much more fun. He had taken off laughing and yelling things about Jello to the kids behind him. He picked up speed and was quickly outrunning them. He knew he couldn't run forever though and they would surely be looking for him so his best option was hiding. He scanned the area as he began to weave in and out of the places in camp. He could go to the mess hall and blend in, but he might make a huge mess and Chiron would have his head. He thought about going to the training range, but the thought of giving them more ammunition made him nervous. That was when the idea hit him..the amphitheater!

There was no one scheduled to perform today so the place should be empty, plus he could go down to the stage to hide and he could always climb the tall steps to see most of the camp when he was ready. It was the perfect place to hide for the moment. He dashed through the opening and into the large amphitheater, skidding to a halt once he was safely inside the large, stone area. Without stopping to look around he leaned his back against the nearest wall and began laughing. 

[Acacia Cassidy]

For the first time since she had arrived at this god forsaken camp, Acacia had found a place where she was completely alone. The amphitheater was a welcome break from the mess back at the cabins. She hadn't actually met anyone yet, besides the man in the wheel chair who had spent a greater chunk of the afternoon trying to explain everything to her. Not a single fiber of her being was believing everything that had happened in the last two days.

So now she was leaning against a wall in the theater, hiding behind section of seats and avoiding the rest of the world. What a welcome relief it was, to have the silence and calm of isolation. A jolt ran through her body as someone else ran into the theater. Adrenaline mixed with excitement. Elation, maybe? She was still having a hard time deciphering between any emotions that weren't lust or love. I guess that would be because of my relation to the Goddess of Love. To Acacia, that was the only bit that made even a little bit of sense to her.

It was then that Acacia realized that she had been hugging her knees so tightly she could hardly feel her legs. She unwrapped her arms from their death grip and sat up to glance over the wall at the boy who had just rushed into the area. He was cute. Mentally Acacia kicked herself for even bothering to notice, another sign she was the daughter of Aphrodite after all. His feelings started to overwhelm her and a smile broke across her face without her meaning it. She giggled and then gasped loudly, flinging herself behind the wall again and praying to whatever gods were out there that he hadn't heard the scuffle on the ground as she hid herself again.

[Benjamin Stellis]

Ben was still doing something halfway between laughing and catching his breath, probably looking like a panting dog when he heard giggling. It was distinctly female and he stood up with a goofy grin still plastered on his face looking for whoever had laughed. He hadn't seen anyone when he had come bursting through the doors but that certainly didn't mean no one was there. They had laughed though which made him feel at ease, if it was someone from the Hephy cabin he assumed they'd be too set on revenge to worry over something as trivial as laughing with him. Ben called out, looking around as he did " Hello, who's there?" In true Ben fashion instead of waiting politely for a response he instead began sneaking around stealthily listening for any sign of movement. 

Ben wasn't what you'd call graceful if you just glanced at him. He was usually doing something hair-brained or dangerous, carrying a backpack full of who-knows-what and the term graceful probably wouldn't be the first thing you'd put on his list. He was though, when he had to be or wanted to be Ben was quite light on his feet. He was pretty good at balancing, and being quick. He wasn't sure if it was due to his demi-god abilities from his father or all of those fancy dance lessons his mom made him attend. Either way he was using it to his advantage. He crept around in the shadows, trying to hide behind the columns and stay in the darkness as much as he could. 

He thought he heard some sort of shuffling noise to his right so he began to make his way in that direction. Whoever they were they were clearly trying to be alone. Any normal human might take their running away as a hint, but no..not Ben. He considered it almost like a personal challenge, like a lovely game of hide and seek where at the end you either came face-to-face with a friendly or an enemy. He was hoping for the friendly, but he wouldn't be surprised if it was an enemy. Today seemed to be the day of revenge for the son of Hermes. Ben crept around a column and all at once jumped out where he thought the person might be, calling out " GOTCHA". 

[Acacia Cassidy]

Acacia was pressed tightly against the wall, hoping beyond reason that her heart would calm itself so she could hear whether or not her was coming closer. Acacia sucked in a deep breath and held it, trying to strafe along the wall towards the exit so that she could escape in to the woods and hide from reality. She had a vague memory of being told not to go into the woods after dark but her heart definitely was not prepared to be surrounded by angst motivated demigods who all seem to have an attitude problem.

A sort of calm fell over her for a moment and it made her pause. Did he leave? That was when she felt the rush of adrenaline as he jumped out of no where and hollered something she didn't quite catch. She fell backward and landed hard on her butt, wincing a little. She hardly noticed that pain because she her heart was beating so hard in her chest she could hardly breathe.

Despite the fact that her mind was reeling with ideas of how to escape, her fingers instinctively reached to tug the knots from her hair and fix her appearance. It wasn't as if she really cared that much but something always made her strive to look pretty in front of people, especially good looking people like the boy in front of her. Not sure of what to say, Acacia just let out a heavy sigh and pulled herself off the ground, straightening her denim shorts and smoothing the wrinkles out of her pink tank top.

After making herself look presentable her eyes finally found his, "Hi." She muttered, kicking herself for being so lame. Even if she didn't like being around people, she still wanted to make friends.

[Benjamin Stellis]

Ben had jumped from out behind the column like a wild lion pouncing towards a gazelle and yet he still seemed a bit surprised that the other person...the other female person (oops) had shrieked so loudly and fallen. He was still grinning of course as he caught his breath from jumping out so crazily. While still somewhat panting and grinning he finally looked at the person who he had jumped out at. It was a girl, a pretty girl and one he hadn't seen before which was weird. Ben had been at Camp a long time, and knew most of everyone there. He figured she could be a Roman, but this girl didn't seem like the Roman type. So far he had noticed they were moody, stern and mean. He imagined that if he had startled one of them they'd of probably speared him. This girl didn't give off that back-away-or-i'll-murder-you type of vibe so that meant she must be new. 

As the girl got up and straightened her clothes ('Dite girl?), offering a small hi Ben extended his hand out to her. " Sorry about that...name's Ben, son of Hermes..and you are new I take it?" He hadn't meant to scare the heck out of new person, in fact he was usually opposed to doing any pranking or general mischievousness to newbies until they settled in. He could be clueless and heartless of course, but he also knew what it was like. He knew how it felt to be alone and scared. There were plenty of times to set off stink bombs in people's war helmets, when they were new was not the time. 

Ben leaned back on the nearest column and watched her a moment. She looked nervous still, which he really couldn't blame, he supposed he'd be nervous too if he had jumped out at himself which was a thought that kind of made his head spin. He didn't see anyone else around and he couldn't help but wonder what she had been doing here. It wasn't like the Amphitheater was the most funnest place to be so that really only left one option... " So who are you hiding from hmm?" 

[Acacia Cassidy]

Suddenly there was an avalanche of emotions tugging at her mind. Ranging everywhere from exhausted excited to utter confusion, Acacia couldn't even really tell which feels were hers, and which ones belonged to...Ben, was it? She stared at his hand for a moment before reaching forward to take it. She knew what was coming and, honestly, it wasn't the most exciting thing ever. She the second she touched his skin, she knew exactly which emotion belonged to who. His emotions completely gripped her and the nervous giddiness she had felt before melted into a warm, foreign feeling. His feeling.

She yanked her hand away as soon as was appropriate and sighed happily as her feelings returned to a weird mixture of his and her own. She preferred knowing exactly what it was she was thinking, even if those feelings mingled a little bit with other people, "I'm Acacia." She smiled brightly, feeling the kindness wafting off of him in an almost material way.

When he asked her who she was hiding from, Acacia didn't know exactly how to respond. She didn't want to seem weak in front of these strangers, but she also didn't want to be dragged out into the crowds of people. Instead she opted to answer, "Not anyone in particular, I guess."  As if changing her mind at the last minute she said, "Everyone."

[Benjamin Stellis]

Ben noticed she seemed a little hesitant to take his hand which of course only made him more curious as to why she was so hesitant. At first he thought maybe she was a kid of Zeus and she might shock him on accident or something, but as she put her hand in his and nothing happened he tossed out that theory. She seemed to relax a little after the two shook hands and he quickly forgot all about being the reason she was probably so scared and settled into his normal curious and slightly irritating self. 

As she sighed happily (Ben didn't realize he was that much of a lady killer) he began digging in his pockets. He paused a second to look up at her with a smile " Nice to meet you Acacia. Welcome to camp." He continued searching on, his mind mentally going through the things he was grasping...paper clip, bit of string, piece of a pop-tart, the list continued on until he found what he was searching for. Ben pulled out a small, silver compact that was engraved with "property of the Aphrodite cabin"  on it.

He looked up from the compact a moment and listened to her comment about hiding from everyone. Without commenting on it he gave her a sideways grin " Well..wanna see who I'm hiding from?" he moved over to her and pressed the button on the outside of the compact. Moving so she could see he watched as the silver charmed item opened up and began displaying a live feed of the Hermes cabin where the mirror would usually be. Inside the cabin the Hephy kids were ransacking the place, he could see clothes strewn everywhere, kids going to work on his bed with wrenches and saws. Ben made a mental note to sleep in one of his brother's beds tonight. " Those are the Hephaestus kids and that is my cabin. See I kinda pulled an innocent little prank and they sort of well...took it to heart." He grinned and looked over at her. 

[Acacia Cassidy]

When he pulled out a small silver mirror, Acacia couldn't help but notice that it was inscribed with her mother's name. Distracted by this little detail, Acacia ran through the many possibilities as to why he would have such a thing. Had it been gifted to him? Maybe he had a girlfriend in Aphrodite Cabin? Maybe he stole it? Either way, Acacia didn't know if she had been at camp long enough to lay claim to the item and spirit it away, so she set the information aside until she could ask one of her siblings of they were missing the mirror.

When he flipped it open, she realized it wouldn't be difficult to explain what the mirror looked like. All she would have to do is ask if someone was missing a magic mirror like Snow White or something. Of course, she would probably forget about it before she ever returned to her cabin. Especially after seeing a bunch of angry looking kids destroying the inside of a cabin. She had never been inside the cabin before, of course she had never been inside any cabin beside Aphrodite's, so it didn't really answer any questions as far as who his parent was.

Acacia let out  a giggle. And it wasn't a fake one prompted by the happy feelings of others, it was an honest to goodness Acacia laugh. She looked at him, "Weren't they green earlier?" She asked, unable to hide her amusement, "That was priceless! You did that?"

[Benjamin Stellis]

Ben noticed her looking over the compact a bit suspiciously and again he wondered if she was a kid of Aphrodite. Then again she could also be a kid of Athena..those guys were always on his back about doing good and blah, blah, blah. He couldn't imagine going through life like they did: always following the rules, never pranking, never laughing...life would be miserable! If there was anything he learned in his short years it was that life was short and you had to make the most and best of it while you could. If that meant constantly being in and out of Chiron's office with some terribly assigned punishment then so be it. As long as he was happy he didn't care. 

When Acacia began giggling he found himself grinning along with her. At least it seemed like she enjoyed the prank and wasn't going to turn him in..not like it really mattered of course, but it was still nice to meet someone who could appreciate a good jello prank. He watched one Hephaestus kid tamper with the lighting in the room and he wondered if maybe he should warn his brothers and sisters...nah. When Acacia asked if he was the one who did the prank he bowed to her with another grin " Yep, the one and only. I was going to go with red jello and blame it on the Ares kids, but I figured green would be more visually appealing..I am an artist afterall." he winked at her and closed the compact, slipping it back inside his pant pocket.

" So you now know me and I don't anything about you. Who's your godly parent? Or wait...have you been claimed? If not we'll be roomies. Of course I do have to warn you two of my brothers and one of my sisters snore. She swears she doesn't but we recorded her once and let's just say I've got some pretty nice blackmail." He moved back over to the column that he had been leaning against before and slid down the poll so he was sitting firmly on the ground with his back resting against it. 

[Acacia Cassidy]

Calm. That's what she suddenly felt. An overwhelmed sense of calm. She felt a pleased smile grace her lips as she sat down near him on the ground. It was nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of camp. Her mind was actually at ease for once, which was rare. Now, she was trying to decide how open she was going to be. Her sister had warned her about the Roman kids, which this boy obviously wasn't a member of that weird group. She decided that meant she could at least tell him who she was.

"I guess my mom was Aphrodite." She smiled, batting her eye lashes without realizing what she was doing. She smiled and tilted her head to the side sweetly, "At least that's what they say, and I can kind of see the resemblance in my siblings." She ran her fingers through her hair and moved it from one shoulder to the other quickly, "I haven't really gotten used to the idea quite yet."

That must have been the understatement of the year. Getting used to this camp was like a fish getting used to breathing air. Basically impossible unless you put yourself in a little box.

[Benjamin Stellis]

When the girl said she was a daughter of Aphrodite Ben grinned and snapped his fingers " Ah see..I should have taken a bet on it." Without explaining further he watched as she tilted her head towards him and batted her eyelashes. She was a beautiful girl, that wasn't a question, but he had spent way too many years at this camp perfecting his Aphrodite charm block. Ok, so that technically wasn't a real thing, but he had gotten very good at spotting when they were laying on the charm, and therefore ignoring said charm. Sure if a girl really wanted to use charmspeak on him he doubted he could resist, but innocent little charming like this girl was throwing at him was as easy to resist as broccoli for supper. At least resist in the sense he wasn't drooling and trying to kiss her hand like newer demigods might be lured into. 

" Weeellll I wouldn't put too much stock in the whole looking like your siblings thing. First off your siblings can change their appearance at whim and second of all your mom can change anything about her looks. She could even be a lion or senator or something if she wanted to I guess. You could have half-lion brothers and sisters running around, not that it'd be the first time something like that happened I guess." He shrugged and pulled a tennis ball out of his pocket, throwing it against the wall and catching it as it came back to him. 

Thinking about what she said about not being used to the idea he smiled a little " Give it time, you'll adapt quickly. At least we're kids of minor-ish gods. Sure we can do cool things, but could you imagine how the kids of the big three feel? They're like the....king of freaks in the freak world. So really count yourself as lucky." He went back to grinning and throwing the tennis ball back and forth. 

[Acacia Cassidy]

What a weird way to describe it. Half-lion siblings? The idea made Acacia shiver. Not that she could really deny it. This world she was in was definitely different from anything that seemed like it should be real. Who was she to deny the existence of half-lion weirdos? Of course, this realization didn't make Acacia feel any more comfortable with her position.

Instead, she decided to question something else, "So all Aphrodite kids can change their appearance?" Acacia asked, looking over her shoulder for fear that her sister or brother might hear her and call her stupid. She felt like this guy wouldn't really judge her. Too much of a free-spirit maybe, "Wish I knew how they worked that one out!" She laughed shrugging it off and watching the ball bounce against the wall and back to Ben.

When he mentioned the big three kids, she had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. They were pretty high and mighty and didn't seem to mind showing. Of course, that was coming from her limited experience with those kids. Maybe he was right. It would be pretty terrible to be thrown into a camp where you didn't know anyone and then be stared at for being so...important, "You're right. I don't got it so bad..." She trailed off, unable to actually believe it. The Empathy stuff really put a damper on the fun she could have here.