Nelly~

Right after breakfast, the girls and I went back to our cabins to put on bikinis.  We have a ritual of sunbathing every day before training.  Well, before I go to training.  They somehow found a way to get out of having to go, ever.  I like training, though.  I finally get to let everything go.  It helps me to forget what life was like before I got here.

We meet up right by the lake.  "Love the suit today, Nell!" Shelby shouts at me.  I nod and smile.  Tera and Brittany are behind me, comparing the new pop music they had downloaded to their iPods.  We all lay down our towels, throw on sunglasses, and turn on our music.  As Katy Perry sang through my earbuds, I sighed.  This is all I ever wanted in life.  Why do I feel so empty.  I look over at everyone to make sure they're not looking at me and quickly slip a thin book about particle acceleration into the latest issue of Seventeen.  Psychics always makes me feel better.

That day, I really took everything out on a dummy.  When I was done, I looked down at the dagger in my hand.  It was called Skliri Omirfiá, which translates to 'cruel beauty'.  Some people like calling their weapons by their English name better, but I thought the original Greek sounded cooler.  With its celestial bronze blade and amethyst encrusted hilt, it was my most prized possession.  My mom had it specifically made for me as a consolation prize for being her daughter.  Not gonna lie, I was hoping for Aphrodite.  Maybe that would erase the kid I once was.  

Back when I lived in Boston, I was the chubby nerd.  Looking at me now, it would be hard to figure out.  I always had my nose in a book, normally something wicked advanced, sometimes even in Greek.  Even though I had dyslexia, I couldn't get enough.  Having a comic book artist for a father and sole parent didn't help matters.  I walked around school in boy's Iron Man tee shirts two sizes too big.  I even had nerd glasses.  No lie.  They were hideous.  I have no idea what I was thinking.  As you can imagine, I was bullied.  It was brutal.  I ran home to my dad every night in tears.  He would comfort me with tea and another book. It was a vicious cycle, but of course, I didn't know how to stop it.  Then, one day when I got home, a teen magazine was sitting on the kitchen table.  I think my dad picked it up at the supermarket because he saw the headline on it with tips on dealing with bullies, but to this day, I don't know how it got there.  That was the day my life changed.  I read the magazine cover to cover and instantly asked for more.  Before long, I was following all the tips from my favorites, from Girl's Life to Seventeen to Teen Vogue.  I turned my life around.  I was never bullied again.  There was no trace of my nerd life when I got to Camp Half Blood.  Here I'm Nelly Hart, the girl everyone wants to be.  Sometimes, I feel like my dad never liked this change, but bites his tongue because he knows I'm happy.  Because I am.  Happy.  

(My first post doesn't contribute to the story much, just setting up my character!)

Shower, wash. Get dressed. Comb hair. Apply light makeup. (because who wants pimples?) Get ready for the day. Arol smiled at himself in the mirror. Beautiful, as always. He ran finger's through his hair, teasing it slightly. He pulled up the the boots, lacing them up to his knees. He checked the knives in the sheath at his leg. All wonderful and good. 

All of this before four in the morning. Arol was an early riser. He liked the extra time, it gave him some time to read. He checked himself out in the mirror one more time before heading off to read quietly in the cabin. Most other Aphy kids didn't rise for quite some time, beauty sleep and all. Finally, when most people rose, he put down his books. He wasn't especially social, mostly keeping to himself.

He did shoot a wave at a girl named Nelly, who was pretty, and smart. He'd thought for sure she would be his sister, till she was claimed. She sat with his sisters still. Nice girl. Smart and pretty. He also waved at Conrad, a boy he enjoyed discussing nerdy books with. And, he would admit, the boy was good with knives. Arol wasn't social, but he would consider Conrad his friend. 

Breakfast. Practice.

Practice was hard, fun. He was good at knives. Throwing them, stabbing with them. He loved them.

(So, peeps, any thoughts on if my father could have been a halfblood? If that sounds like I'm trying to be perfect or Mary Sue like, could you tell me? I can totally change it, and I know it's not something that most people do) 

@Sir Doctor of the Tardis: Mary Sue is a character archetype. She's beautiful, in part because of some unusual hair color or eye color, but something that people from her life Before thought was ugly or made fun of her for it. She has a cool name. She's ridiculously overpowered in a variety of areas. She doesn't have any actual character flaws. She has a dramatic and heart wrenching back story. She's sometimes and idealized self insert, but not always.

Also, is it too late to join? 

Hermes, Athena, Apollo, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite. And two unknowns. 

Just a count of how many we have.

~Indigo~

Reluctantly, I followed Hailee and Alexa to the big building where a few kids were playing around with swords. Or, rather, they were fighting each other with actual, sharpened swords, wearing only a little armor. 

I stopped in the door way. No way was I going to fight like that. 

"Indigo? Don't worry, those guys have been battling for months. Although they should be wearing a little more armor. But we won't be doing anything like that just yet. We're going to start with the easy stuff."

I steadied myself. Alright. It's alright. I was not a child of Ares, I could guess that much, but I could use a bit of combat training.

I watched the two in gruesome fascination before joining Hailee and Alexa at the sword rack. Hailee grabbed a copper sword of medium length. "This would be good for you, Alexa. And Indigo . . . here we are."

I handled the sword that she gave me with care. The light glinted off of its bright edges. It felt heavy in my hand, and not as good at a bow, but ?I figured that I could make it work. 

"Come on," Hailee said, already at a group of dummies. "Let's get cracking."